Departure information

If you have rented a room or a flat, you must terminate the rental contract in good time. In Germany, there are so-called notice periods for this: Usually, the notice period for a room or flat is three months. This means, for example, if you want to move out by 31 August, you must terminate the tenancy by 31 May at the latest. In some cases, there are also shorter notice periods for tenants. You will find the rules that apply to you in your rental contract. If you live in a guest house, the notice period is 4 weeks before the end of the month. In the Studierendenwerk dormitories, the notice period is 6 weeks before the end of the semester. If you have a fixed-term rental contract in the guest house or the dormitory, you do not have to give extra notice.

You must also terminate all contracts you have concluded in connection with the flat, e.g.: Electricity, water, gas, telephone, internet. Please note that you must also terminate the broadcasting feeExternal link (Rundfunkbeitrag). If you live in a shared flat, you can have some of the contracts signed over to other tenants. In the guest house and the dormitory, you do not have to worry about cancelling electricity, water, internet, etc.

Some landlords allow you to search for and find a new tenant for your room by yourself. This can have the advantage that you can individually negotiate with the new tenant how you will hand over the room, so that you do not have to paint the walls, for example.

If you have opened a bank account in Germany, you should cancel it with your bank. If you have signed any contracts during your stay (e.g. mobile phone contract, fitness centre, etc.), please remember to cancel them in good time before your departure.

Before you leave, it might be useful to make copies of your doctoral certificate and have them officially certified by the university's legal office. To do this, you need to go to the Legal Office de with your original documents. Copies of your documents can be made there for 0.50 cents per page. The authentication costs 4 euros per document (one document can contain several pages).

In some cases it may also be necessary to have the doctoral certificate officially authenticated in the form of an apostille or legalisation in order to use it abroad. The issuing process involves several steps and institutions: The Legal Office of the Friedrich Schiller University, the State Administration Office in Weimar and (in the case of legalisation additionally) the embassy or consulate of the country in which you want to use the certificate. You can find further information at the Legal Office de.

If you had an employment contract in Germany during your doctorate, contributions for German pension insurance were also deducted from your salary. Whether you are entitled to a German pension or if the money can be paid back depends on the country in which you later work and live:

• If you stay within the European Economic Area and in other cooperating countries (e.g. USA) after your departure, you can receive a German pension. To do so, you must have worked in Germany and these countries for a total of more than five years. But you will only receive the pension when you have reached the German retirement age (currently: 67 years).
• If you are outside the European Economic Area in a country with which no pension cooperation agreement has been concluded (e.g. China, India, Iran), you can get back the pension contributions you have paid. The refund only goes for the share that you paid as an employee (9.3 per cent of gross salary per month). You can apply for this no earlier than 24 months after the end of your stay in Germany. You can find the application for reimbursement hereExternal link. You can obtain further information from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (drv@drv-bund.de).