Before your entry: Important documents

The documents on your civil status confirm your marital status and the relation to your family mem­bers (e.g. marriage certificate, birth certificates of your children, decree absolute). You are required to provide translations either in German or in Eng­lish. We recommend you to have your certificates, which are issued in other languages, translated to German/English by a sworn translator. If this is not possible, you should commission such translationsExternal link after your arrival in Germany.

In addition, the authenticity of the documents required might need to be officially certified in your home country. Are you not sure whether your certifi­cates must be officially certified, e.g. through an apo­stille or legalization? Please contact the responsible German diplomatic mission abroad in advance, as this process may be rather time-consuming.

Qualification certificates are documents certifying your school leaving qualifications (e.g. Abitur, high school, GCSE), vocational training qualifications, or degree certificates (e.g. bachelor’s/master’s degree, Diploma, doctoral degree). Copies of your qualifi­cation certificates might already be available to the Division for Human Resources, for example, if you have already submitted those with your job applica­tion. Are you not sure whether any copies are mis­sing? Please contact your personnel officer in the Division for Human Resources.

In addition to the copies, you must present the ori­ginal qualification documents during the recruit­ment process. The Division for Human Resources accepts certificates in German and in English. In case of other languages, you need to commission a sworn translatorExternal link to translate your certificates into German/English.

Another essential group of supporting documents is proof of your previous employments. The public sector collective agreements in Germany 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.