Moving to Germany as a Post-doctoral Researcher

NB: this is still very much a work in progress, any contributions would be appreciated.

German Universities are an attractive place to do research. Salaries compare favorably to the US, the labor rights that Germany is famous for extend to researchers, and many groups use English as a working language.

Finding a position

Labs websites often list open positions and can be a good place to start if you have an idea of where you’d like to work. What’s more if you already have a working relationship with a professor (and have a potential project that you would be interested in) it can also be worthwhile to reach out and ask about whether there are positions available that haven’t been posted yet (we academics are really bad at updating job boards). Conferences are another good place to check job-boards for openings. How a position is funded varies a lot depending on your field. The German Government has a breakdown of some types of funding that you can apply for here.

Applying

Applying for a post-doc is generally similar to applying for any other sort of job, you need your CV, references, and should expect to give a short presentation about your previous work. Positions are typically fixed term of 2-3 years and there is at least nominally a limit of 6 years that you can spend as a post-doc on fixed term contracts (see here for further discussion), and there may be the possibility of extending or renewing the contract (talk to your supervisor). Depending on the lab, and your funding situation you may also be required to teach during your time in Germany, this is something to ask about when you interview.

Handling paperwork

Once you have an offer you will need to deal with all of the paperwork that is the German stereotype plus the Academic stereotype. Your research group should hopefully have an administrative person to help you with this. It is also worthwhile to reach out to German speaking PhD students or post-docs if you need help with the German. You should keep in mind that German Universities are obsessive about having original copies of your diploma, while you can likely send them a copy during the initial application process you will need to bring the original to both the University and the Ausländeramt. You will also need to arrange your visa (see below) and health insurance(/r/germany/wiki/health_insurance).

Getting a Visa and a residence permit

Once you have a signed contract from the University you can begin the process of applying for a visa (folks with some nationalities are able to go to Germany on a Schengen visa and apply for the residence permit when you get to Germany, but this runs the very real risk of not getting paid for the first couple of month’s while you get all the paperwork sorted). You will need to set up an appointment with your local German Embassy, and bring all of the paperwork they request. If you do not meet the income requirement for the Blue Card, you should work with the University to get pre-approval (see the-fast-track-procedure-for-skilled-workers for details).

Once you get to Germany you will need to get your residence permit. As a researcher there are a couple of different types you can apply for: EU Blue card (or “Skilled workers holding a university degree” under § 18b (1) if you don’t meet the income requirements), [Researcher’s Visa] (https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/visa-residence/types/other/research), or you can apply straight for a permanent residence permit under § 18c (3) if you qualify as “Scientist with special technical knowledge”. Of the three types the application directly for permanent residence offers your the most freedom, but is the hardest to have approved (the fact that literally anyone with a PhD in the sciences nominally fulfills the “specialist knowledge” test seems lost on most Beamters), second is the Blue Card, and finally the researcher visa.

Working hours and vacations

Post-doc’s typically get 30 days of paid holiday (and you are expected to take it). The nominal number of hours worked per week depends on the state that you are in, but is typically between 38 and 40.5.

Getting Paid

You will see a lot of jobs advertised as TV-L E13 with some percentage. This refers to the standard salary for public servants in the E13 job class, you can find information about what that actually corresponds to here. You should note that in addition to your salary group, your pay will depend on your previous experience (your Stufe). German universities count experience starting with when you were awarded your Master’s degree (since Germany follows the Bologna system), this unfortunately makes life a bit difficult for folks from the US system, where many PhD programs don’t have a distinct Master’s phase. Your University will almost certainly not understand the difference, and you will have to submit documentation proving equivalency. A good place to start is to put together a letter for the head of your PhD program to sign detailing when you started research and how that was equivalent to the completion of a masters. Keep pushing if they don’t accept the first time, and make sure that they are clear what more is needed, the difference between Stufe 1 and Stufe 3 (corresponding to 0 experience verus 3-5 years experience) is ~560 euros a month. You will automatically get a raise from Stufe 3 to Stufe 4 with six years of experience (including your PhD).

Learning German

Research is a great way to get a foot in the door in Germany, as its one of the few areas where German fluency is not a prerequisite. You should however try to pick up German as quickly as possible to make your time here more enjoyable. Your University likely has morning and evening programs for visiting academics.

Finding housing

Start looking for housing as soon as you have your contract. The housing market in Germany is difficult in any case, and University towns tend to be even worse. It’s likely that your University has a “welcome center” to help international arrivals, check with them if they offer short term rentals for visiting researchers.