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State social security

The social security system in Germany covers you against the major risks. If you work in Germany and are subject to social security contributions, you are generally a member of the following statutory insurance schemes:

• Statutory health insurancecovers the costs of visits to the doctor as well as many medications and therapeutic measures.
• Statutory long-term care insurance provides basic cover in the event that you are permanently dependent on care due to illness.
• Statutory accident insurance covers the costs of medical treatment and reintegration into working life following an accident at work or occupational illness. It pays wage replacement during incapacity for work and pensions for permanent health damage, including survivors' benefits.
• Statutory pension insurancepays rehabilitation benefits and pensions in the event of old age, reduced earning capacity or death.
• Statutory unemployment insurancepays an income while looking for work under certain conditions and supports the job search with advice and placement services.

Membership of statutory social insurance costs a fixed percentageof your income. You pay part of the costs, your employer pays the other part. The costs are deducted directly from your wages.

If you are employed in Germany, you are generally required to be insured in the German social security system.

Please note: There are exceptions to this principle for certain types of work. For example, for certain posted workers, cross-border commuters, seasonal workers, marginally paid employeesand people who work in several EU countries.

Your employer must registeryou under social security law. This means that the employer must provide the relevant health insurance fund with the following information:

• Your name
• Your address
• Your insurance number
• Your nationality
• Your salary and job details

This notification ensures that the employer pays the social security contributions. You must provide the employer with all the necessary details and information so that the employer can fulfill its obligations. You are therefore obliged to cooperate.

Please note: The employer must provide you with a copy of the reported data. Both the employer and you can be sanctioned if you fail to comply with the reporting obligations .

In some sectors, the employer must submit a notification even before taking up employment:

• in the construction industry,
• in a restaurant or hotel,
• in a forwarding agency,
• in the transportation and associated logistics industry,
• in the building cleaning industry
• in the meat industry
• in the prostitution industry and
• in the security industry.

This means that you must also provide the required information as part of your duty to cooperatebefore taking up employment and always have your ID with you in case of an inspection.

You can find more information on the registration and contribution procedurein several languages at Deutsche Rentenversicherung. The health insurance companies also provide information on their websites.

Tip: When you register for social insurance, you will receive a social insurance numberthat you will keep for the rest of your life. With the help of the social security number, the data required for determining your pension is brought together and kept ready. You should therefore keep this number in a safe place.

As an employee, you are always compulsorily insuredunder the statutory pension insurance scheme.

Tip: If you are in low-paid employment(mini-job), you can apply forexemption from compulsory pension insurance.

Pension insurancecovers various benefits:

• The pension provides financial security in old age. To qualify for an old-age pension, you must have reached a certain age and have completed a certain minimum period of pensionable service.
• Pension insurance also supports you if you become incapacitated for workin the course of your working life, i.e. if you can no longer work or can only work part-time due to an illness or disability. If the personal and insurance requirements are met, you will then receive rehabilitation benefitsto restore your earning capacity or a pension due to reduced earning capacityif you will no longer be able to work or will only be able to work to a limited extent for the foreseeable future due to your state of health.
• Pension insurance also offers comprehensive protection for surviving dependants. It pays pensions to widows, widowers and orphans of deceased insured persons.

Up to the year of birth 1946, the age of 65is decisive for drawing the standard old-age pension. For subsequent birth cohorts, the standard retirement age is gradually raised to 67. From 2029, this age limit will then apply to all those born from 1964 onwards. However, the statutory pension insurance scheme has other old-age pensionsthat allow earlier retirement under special personal conditions, for example in the case of severe disability and/or many years of contributions to the statutory pension insurance scheme.

A basic principle of pension insurance is: the more and the longer you pay contributions and the higher they are, the higher your later pension will be. In addition to contribution periodsfrom earned income, periods during which children were raised or relatives were cared for can also be taken into account. In addition, "non-contributory periods" are taken into account for various circumstances such as school attendance.

Insurance periods in other countries

If you have been employed in other EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, the insurance periods you have completed in these member states will be taken into account to fulfill waiting periods.

Please notethat the statutory pension is lower than your income during your employment. In order to maintain your standard of living in old age, you should supplement your statutory pension insurance with occupational and/or private pension provision.

If you have worked in one or more EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, the following applies: Each country in which you have completed more than one year of insurance pays a separate pensionas soon as you reach the retirement age of the country in question. The amount of the pension depends on the insurance periods completedthere. All insurance periods completed in the respective countries are taken into account in order to fulfill the requirements for pension entitlement. You will receive a summary notification of the decision of the individual countries, the so-called P1 document. This notification is issued by the pension provider to which you have submitted your pension application.

Pension application

You apply fora pensionin the country in which you live, unless you have never worked there. In this case, you should submit the application in the country where you were last insured. If you submit a pension application in one country, it is valid for all countries in which you have completed periods of insurance.

You will receive your pension regardless of where you are within the countries mentioned.

• Statutory health insurance
• Statutory long-term care insurance
• Statutory accident insurance
• Statutory pension insurance
• Statutory unemployment insurance
• Special forms of work at a glance
• Reporting obligations
• German Pension Insurance
• Application for exemption from pension insurance