Visa
Germans and other EU citizens
Internships inside the EU
No visa or work permit necessary.
Internships in program countries outside the EU
In non EU program countries like Turkey a visa or work permit might be compulsary. Usually, the procedure for participants of the Erasmus program have been strongly simplified. For internships of up to 3 months a simple tourist visa might be sufficient.
In any case, ask the respective embassy and mention that your are participating in the Erasmus program.
Internships worldwide
Concerning internships outside the European program countries, your status will be equivalent to other non-EU citizens (3rd country), who study in Germany and want to go to other European countries. That´s why the same applies to you what you find below under Non-EU citizens. Only the re-entrance to Germany won´t be an issue in your case.
In any case, ask at the relevant embassy and mention that you are participant in the Erasmus program! And do this as soon as possible. Generally speaking, the visa procedure takes longer (3 months) than the Erasmus application (1 month).
Non-EU citizens
Students and Graduates from non-EU states studying in Germany, may do one or several internship abroad during or after their studies. You are also eligible to receive an ERASMUS-grant for your internship abroad. All students immatriculated at on of our 8 partner universities in Saxony-Anhalt, i.e. international full degree students, are eligible regardless of their nationality.
Still, as a non-EU student, you will have to pay attention to some regulations regarding visa, residence and work permit.
Regulations depend, among others, on
- kind of internship: obligatory vs. voluntary
- duration (up to 90 days, more than 6 months)
- your current visa status
- the country you intend to go to
- participation in EU-programme (ERASMUS)
In order to be on the safe side, please always contact the embassy of your target country well in time before going abroad. Some companies already want to be sure about your status when considering your application.
All EU-member states apart from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark agreed on the REST Directive (2018). You find an excerpt with the most important regulations of the REST directive here.
Please note that these are only minimum standards of all EU-countries involved- concrete implementation still depends on each member country.
Returning to Germany
Also, you have to make sure that you will be allowed to re-enter Germany before you leave for the internship abroad. Please contact your Foreigners Registration Department office for this.
Country specific information
Netherlands:
No work permit is required for EU nationals. Do not apply via Netherlands Employees Insurance Agency (UWV) and make sure your host organisation does not intend to apply for that. Usually, a short-stay visa (VKV - entry and residence visa for a stay of less than 90 days) or a 'work placement' or 'job-seeking year' residence permit (IND) is required. This procedure can take up to 3 months!
Immigration Services in the Netherlands: https://ind.nl/en and NUFFIC (Dutch „DAAD“): https://www.studyinholland.nl
Austria:
You will need neither a work permit nor a confirmation of registration for activities carried out within EU education and research programmes, e.g. Erasmus+ (Studying & Working in Austria, p. 26, find the complete document here).
The following information has been provided to us by the Career Center of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg: Your employer must apply to the "Arbeitsmarktservice" in Austria. At the same time, you must apply to the Austrian Consulate General in Munich for a "Visa D". According to the Austrian Embassy in Berlin, this takes 2-3 weeks. You may then stay in Austria for a maximum of 180 days. If you want to stay longer than 180 days in Austria, you would have to apply for a residence permit in Mödling http://www.noel.gv.at/noe/Moedling/Zustaendigkeiten_BH_Moedling.html, +432236/9025-34440. This becomes easier with an Erasmus+ grant, but still takes 3-4 months.
UK: