Signing the contract: Required documents

In this form, you should provide all important personal information. Firstly, you should provide some general information about yourself. Some of the questions refer to your marital status and, if appli-cable, to your spouse and children. Secondly, you should provide the details of your school education, any vocational training completed, and of your previous employments.

By signing the form, you confirm that the given information are correct and complete. If you give any false information, your contract of employment may be terminated.

In this form, we need information that are required for paying you the monthly salary. In the first place, these are the details of the health insurance provider of your choice. Your employer will register you with the provider and transfer your contributions to it on a monthly basis.

If you have worked in Germany before, you already have a personal social security number. If not, please skip this box in the form and send us your social security number after you have received the notification from the German Statutory Pension Insurance („Deutsche Rentenversicherung“).

In addition to the social insurance, you should also provide information on any additional occupation you might have in Germany, e.g. self-employment (freelancing), and if you have any children.

Please enclose the health insurance certificate („Mitgliedsbescheinigung“) for the employer issued by your health insurance provider.

By signing the 2a form, you declare that you approve of the principles of the free democratic basic order in accordance with the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, GG) and that you are not a member of any organization which violates the Basic Law with its activities. Even if you only support such organizations, you may not take up any employment in the public sector. In this case, too, your contract of employment may be terminated if you give any false information.

By signing the 2b form, you declare that you agree that your allegiance to the constitution can be examined by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (»Amt für Verfassungsschutz«).

If you were born before 12 January 1972, you must also fill in and sign the 3a and 3b forms. Thus, you declare that you have been never connected to the state security authorities of the former German Democratic Republic (»DDR«) and agree that the information provided may be examined.

Do not forget to fill in and sign these documents prior to signing the contract of employment!

Similarly to the social insurance form, the information on your tax level is crucial for the calculation of your salary. You usually receive your tax identification number within two weeks after the registration of your new address at the registration office by mail. Please skip the box now and submit the tax identification number to your personnel officer after you have received it. Based on this number, the employer can determine the income tax appropriately and transfer it to the tax office.

If you have been registered in Germany before, you already possess your personal tax identification number. Please enter it to the relevant box in the form.

Another essential part of the form is the table at the bottom of the page. The information provided there will be used unless you have already provided your tax identification number.

Firstly, you need to indicate your German tax class („Steuerklasse“). You may find some information about tax classes in Germany on the InternetExternal link. For more accurate information, you should consult the local tax officeExternal link or (for a fee) a tax advisorExternal link or a tax assistance associationExternal link.

In Germany, some religious communities are eligible to raise a church tax (»Kirchensteuer«). Please give information on your religion accordingly.

Provide your tax class yourself to avoid an automatic assignment. If you do not fill in the tax class box, you might be classified to a tax class with a higher tax level as needed.

Another essential group of supporting documents is proof of your previous employments. The public sector collective agreements in Germany¹ determine specific work experience levels (“Erfahrungsstufen”). The work experience level depends on the number of years you worked in your previous employments. These must be comparable to the occupation you are about to take up at the University.

Unfortunately, previous scholarships/grants, self-employment (freelancing), or similar occupations cannot be taken into consideration.

You can provide proof of your previous employments by submitting previous contracts of employment, job references, and other reference letters of the former employers. Regardless of their type, the documents submitted must include:

• the period of your employment
• the type of your occupation (e.g. project manager, researcher)
• the scope of your employment (full-time/ part-time).

In this case, too, the originals should be available in German or in English. Alternatively, you must pro­vide corresponding translations (German/English) by sworn translatorsExternal link.

Please give information on your previous employments that are comparable with the upcoming one in Jena. Do not forget to provide corresponding proof as described above. Any interruptions in previous employments, e.g. unpaid special leave or parental leave, should be listed, too. If you had several employments at the same employer without interruptions, you can list them in the form as one.

Apart from some personal data, you should provide the required bank account details. These are name of the bank, BIC, and IBAN. If you do not have these data at the date of signing your contract of employ-ment, please send them to us as soon as possible. Thus, you can avoid any delays in paying your salary.

If your bank account change during your employment at the University, please inform the Division for Human Resources about your new bank account so that your salary can be transferred on time.

By signing this form, you confirm that you will inform the Division for Human Resources about any change of your personal circumstances, e.g. regarding your address or marital status, in a timely manner. Thus, you ensure the data provided to your employer are always up-to-date.

VBL is a pension scheme provider for the German federal public institutions and those of the German »Länder«. Designed for the public sector only, the VBL pension scheme  is a compulsory addition to the German pension insurance (»Rentenversicherung«). The University will register you with VBL and pay its monthly contribution in addition to your monthly contribution. In your retirement or in case of occupational disability you will then—under certain conditions—be eligible to receive a monthly pension.

VBL offers you two pension scheme options: the compulsory VBLklassik (4,25% are deducted from your monthly salary) and VBLextra (2% are deducted from your monthly salary). Please note that you are only eligible to the pension from VBLklassik if you have paid your contributions for at least five years. Employees with research-related occupations usually have short fixed-term contracts of employment and can thus not meet the qualifying period for that pension. Therefore, this group of employees may request an exemption from the VBLklassik pension scheme. If you request the exemption, you will automatically be assigned to the VBLextra pension scheme. This might be rather advantageous because you are then eligible to receive pension when the requirements are met, even if you do not meet the minimum time of payment (five years). Employees with non-research positions do not have this option and will be assigned to the VBLklassik insurance scheme automatically.

Taking long-term prospects into account, you should then consider various aspects when selecting among both VBL products. For more information, please refer to the VBL websiteExternal link (information in English available).

Now back to the forms. In the registration form, you should provide information on any previous insurance period in which you paid contributions to VBL or to any other insurance provider. Generally, this is the case if you have worked in the public sector in Germany before. If not, the registration form is rather easy to complete. If you have been insured before, you can find the details of your insurance in your existing VBL documents / documents issued by other insurance provider (e.g. previous insurance periods, insurance number).

Apart from these data, you should also decide whether you would like your contributions to be paid to this pension scheme tax-free. In particular cases, employees may decide for themselves, i.e. whether they would prefer to pay a tax on contributions now or on pension payments later.

If you decide for the VBLklassik scheme, you do not have to do anything else — you will be registered automatically. Should you opt for the VBLextra scheme, you can request an exemption from the com-pulsory VBL insurance scheme (VBLklassik) by submitting the exemption form. Please note that you need three copies of this form: one copy for the internal accounting office, one for your personnel file, and one for your own records.

The German government supports parents in raising their children by financial benefits until their children are independent and have reached a particular age. Currently (July 2019), parents can receive €204 for their first and second child, respectively, €210 for the third child, and €235 for every additional child.

If you want to receive the child benefit, you must apply for it first and submit your formal request to the responsible accounting office. (Please refer to the information below.)

If your position is financed by funds from the budget, your personnel officer will give you the application form and will pass the duly completed form to the respective accounting office.

To whom should you submit your request? If you are a citizen of the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) or of the following states (Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Morocco, Montenegro, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, or Tunisia), your child benefit request will be processed by the regional family office of the Federal Employment AgencyExternal link.

If the University’s accounting unit prepares your monthly payroll, you should submit the child benefit request to the Federal Employment Agency, too. For more information on the child benefit and how to request it, you can download an English language brochure and the application form from the official website of the AgencyExternal link.

Are you not sure to whom you should submit the request? Please do not hesitate to ask your personnel officer during your personal appointment. Regarding the request, we recommend that you deal with it soon, as you are entitled to retrospective payments for six months only.

This type of documents comprises CV, school leaving certificates, certificates of vocational training, degree certificates or (if available) a doctoral degree certificate. If you have already submitted those in the application process, you must only present the corresponding originals.

The information provided in the CV should be identical to the information given in the employee data form. Please do not forget to provide the current date and to sign your CV.

School certificates (e.g. »Abiturzeugnis», other high school leaving certificates, or equivalent) serve as proof of the school education completed.

Certificates of vocational training and degree certifi cates are of great importance. Prior to signing the contract of employment, the Division for Human Resources must examine whether the qualifications acquired abroad are equivalent to the German ones. Without corresponding examination, it is not pos-sible to determine your work experience level or you may be classified to a lower level. Luckily, we usually examine the details in advance and clarify any pending questions before the date of signing the contract of employment.

The doctoral degree certificate confirms that one has completed the doctoral examination procedure successfully. Based on this certificate, you are entitled to use the doctoral title as far as the title is equivalent to a respective German one.

These documents essentially include the certificates of your marital status, for example, marriage certificate, civil partnerships certificate, and birth certificates of your children.

Apart from those (if applicable), you must submit a copy of your personal ID/passport. The copy of the personal ID (EU citizens) or of the passport (for other citizens) shall serve as proof of your identity. You must present the original, too, so that the personnel officer can certify the copy submitted.

Please also provide two copies each of the documents certifying your marital status. One copy will be included in your personnel file, whereas the other will be passed on to the accounting office. In particular, this applies to birth certificates of your children — thus you can reduce your monthly payment to the long-term care insurance („Pflegeversicherung“).

A certificate of good conduct (type O; »polizeiliches Führungszeugnis der Belegart O«) is an official document containing any previous documented convictions of a particular person. It can, for example, certify that there are no previous convictions listed in the federal database that would prevent the given person from working in the public sector. Please request the certificate of good conduct at your registration office.

To spare some time, please request the certificate of good conduct during your personal appointment at the registration office. Your contract of employment is only considered valid when you present a certificate of good conduct without any previous convictions. If you do not request the certificate, the University may, under certain conditions, initiate the process of terminating your contract of employment.

Upon your request, the registration office will send the certificate of good conduct to the Division for Human Resources within a few days. Therefore, please ask the registration office to send the certificate to the following address: 

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Fürstengraben 1
07743 Jena.

In addition to the address, please also provide the name of your personnel officer at the Division for Human Resources to simplify the further procedure. The surcharge for issuing the certificate of good conduct amounts to €13. After you have paid the surcharge, you will receive a receipt that you should bring with you to the Division for Human Resources as a proof having requested the certificate.

This is a type of saving scheme partially funded by the state government. As an employer, the Free State of Thuringia guarantees a monthly savings bonus of €6.65 if you have a full-time position or the corresponding part of it if you work on a part-time basis. Depending on the contract, you can increase the amount by your own contributions.

This type of saving scheme is advisable if you are about to work in Germany for a longer period. For more information on the saving options, you should consult your bank.

If you ultimately conclude a contract with a bank, you will receive a standardized form. Please submit the form to your personnel officer at the Division for Human Resources. The responsible accounting unit will then automatically transfer your monthly saving amount to the given account.