Health insurance for language students in Germany

Many students who come to Germany from abroad to study take part in language courses before starting their actual studies. This often gives rise to misunderstandings: as long as the first semester of the official course of study has not yet begun, you are not considered a student, but a language student. Even if the language courses take place at the university.

Why is this important? It plays an important role in choosing the right health insurance. A language student needs different health insurance to a regular student.

Example: You get a place to study in Germany. Your studies start on October 1. Before that, you take part in a language course. This starts six months earlier, on April 1. You arrive in Germany on March 1 to find accommodation and make other preparations.

You need private international health insurance for the period before the official start of your studies, i.e. between March 1 and October 1. From the start of your studies, you can either take out statutory student insurance (provided you are not yet 30 years old) or you can choose private health insurance.

In our example, you are not considered a regular student in the period between entering Germany and starting your studies, but a language student. This means that you cannot be insured under the statutory student insurance scheme. You need private international health insurance.

Does every language student in Germany need private international health insurance? That depends on which country you come from. In some cases, international health insurance is not compulsory, but is strongly recommended. In other cases it is compulsory.

If you come to Germany from another European country, you are usually covered by a public health insurance that is valid throughout Europe and therefore also in Germany. In this case, additional international health insurance is not compulsory, but highly recommended. Why?

Put simply, public health insurance in Europe is designed to cover your health in your home country - but not abroad. Although your home health insurance also pays for treatment in Germany, some of these treatments are excluded. What these are depends on your health insurance.

However, public health insurance does not usually pay for the most important thing, namely repatriation to your home country. This means that if you have to be treated in hospital for several weeks due to an accident or illness and you would like to go to a hospital in your home country, you will have to pay for the transportation yourself. Only very few students can afford this.

We therefore recommend that all language students from abroad, whether from Europe or not, take out international health insurance.

If you come from a country outside Europe, you usually need a visa for your stay as a language student. When applying for your visa, you must provide proof of health insurance that is valid in Germany and Europe.

As already mentioned: This health insurance is required for your stay as a language student, i.e. for the time before the start of the first semester. After that, you are covered by the statutory student insurance or by a private comprehensive health insurance policy of your choice.

The topic of health insurance in Germany is complicated. So let's summarize:

• Language students are not considered students in Germany if the language course is not part of the official study course.
• Language students with health insurance valid in Germany are not obliged to take out private international health insurance. However, it is recommended, even by the public health insurance companies themselves.
• Language students without valid health insurance are required to take out international health insurance.

We have developed our private international health insurance Provisit Educare24 especially for language students in Germany. It covers all important treatments and can be flexibly supplemented with or without additional cover.

The special advantages of Provisit Educare24: The insurance can be taken out up to one month after entry. You can even take out the insurance without a German bank account right now, and you immediately receive an insurance confirmation for the visa authorities.

Provisit Educare24 has many other advantages and is ideal for language students in Germany.