Providing Documents/ Information for Your Contract With JGU
Since drawing up your contract with JGU takes 6 to 8 weeks, it is important to provide the following documents/ information immediately.
If you are invited to a Visiting Scholar Agreement or Stipend, please provide:
- Full name as written in your passport
- Date and place of birth
- Passport number
- Bank account (IBAN or account number and BIC or Swift Code)
- Private address
- Address of your home institution
- Dates of your stay (start/ arrival date and end/ departure date)
If you are invited to a contract as Scientific Staff (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), please provide:
- Full name as written in your passport
- Date and place of birth
- Passport number
- Private address
- Your most recent curriculum vitae
- Proof of your latest degree (e.g. Master-/ PhD-/ etc. certificate and transcript)
- Bachelor certificate and transcript
- Exact date of your graduation
- Form about previous employment/ education in Germany/ civil service
Note: You can provide all the above-named documents/ information via e-mail to sinova-group@uni-mainz.de.
Please check out the list of documents, information and certificates you need to provide before signing your contract with JGU. Even though you do not need these documents before your arrival it might take some time to obtain those, especially since they must be provided either in original and translated copy or in certified copy/ certified translation. Translations into German and English are accepted. See Obtaining Certified Copies on how to get a certified translation or copy in Germany.
For a complete list of what you must provide before and within the first months of your stay see Complete List of Documents for HR Department.
Visa/ Residence Permit/ Work Permit
If and which type of visa/ residence permit/ work permit you need, depends on your nationality and country of residence as well as on the purpose of your stay. Thus, it is impossible for us to say how long the process of obtaining a visa will take. Our recommendation is to contact the respective authorities immediately. It is most important to get the visa and work permit before your arrival in Germany!
Note: You cannot sign your contract with JGU if you cannot provide a work permit!
For information on how to obtain a visa/ work permit please check out Auswärtiges Amt and contact the German embassy or consulate in the country of your residence. In case you need any documents (e.g. letter of invitation etc.) please contact sinova-group@uni-mainz.de.
Click here for information on residence permit.
Accommodation
The housing market in the Rhine-Main-Area has been quite tight for some years already. Especially in Mainz it is not that easy to find a place to live. Hence, it is always helpful to check out rental offers in Wiesbaden, which is a 15 minutes train ride from Mainz only, or even Frankfurt. If you want to get an impression of what is offered and the costs involved you can check out Immobilienscout and Immowelt or for shared apartments WG Gesucht. In addition, flats on offer are published in newspapers or to be found on pin boards at university and supermarkets. If you need help with finding an apartment or want to live in students housing, please contact the Welcome Centre of JGU.
Note: Most apartments for rent in Germany are unfurnished and often even without kitchenette. Click here for more information on renting apartments in Germany.
Recommendation: Since most landlords/ landladies want to meet their future tenant in person and it is often not possible to come to Mainz prior to the actual arrival date, we recommend to book a holiday apartment for ca. 3 weeks (often it can even be renewed if needed) so it is possible to come to Mainz, join the team and not to worry about finding a new home within a few days. You find more information on holiday homes in Germany here: Airbnb and Home Away.
If you consider staying at our Spice Guest Apartment for your first weeks in Germany, please contact sinova-group@uni-mainz.de for booking query as soon as possible.
Health Insurance
Please make sure to have a health insurance that covers:
- Medical and dental treatment
- Supply with medication, first aid and medical aids
- Hospital treatment
- Medical services for rehabilitation
- Services provided in pregnancy and childbirth
before you enter Germany!
If you are going to sign a contract as scientific staff (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) it might be sufficient to have a travel health insurance, because once you are employed in Germany you need to become a member of German health insurance and thus part of the social security system. I.e. you will be a member of a German health insurance as soon as your contract starts. Click here for information on how to become a member of German health insurance and here for information on the German social security system.
If your visit is financed by stipend or visiting scholar agreement, you should purchase also a travel health insurance in case yours does not cover any medical aid in Germany, at least for the duration of your stay. For more information consult your insurance.
Recommendation: Former guests and employees recommend Mawista (health insurance provider), because they are quite flexible in terms of renewal and cancellation.
In addition, we recommend to buy a private liability insurance and (maybe even) an accident insurance. The DAAD offers a combined health, liability and accident insurance for visiting scientists/ scholars.