Almost all the international students who are coming to Germany might have the idea of doing a part-time to earn and also fund their second year. A part-time job is good for students, but there are also some important facts which should be considered before doing a part-time job.
Working days for students
The international students are allowed to work for 120 full days or 240 half days. These days are calculated for one complete year from 1st of January to 31st December.
How many hours per day are considered a part-time job?
The working hours are based on the individual company.
- If a company has 35 working hours per week, then the half-day will be 3.5 hours.
- If a company has 40 working hours a week, then 4 hours per day will be calculated as a half day.
This is mostly applicable for the working student (Werkstudent) job. Because the students will be working for 20 hours per week. So, it is necessary for the students to know that their company calculates half day work. In some companies, they calculate only the weekly or monthly working hours. In that case, the above-mentioned statement is not valid.
It is better to clarify with HR and clear your doubts regarding the working hours.
Part-time job working days
The part-time job working days will be reduced from the allowed 120 full working days. So if you work from January till June as a full-time job, then you will mostly lose your 120 full days.
For example, many students may do the job in Amazon during the summer, Christmas or during the holidays. These days will as be reduced from the allowed 120 full days.
Note: Full time job will have something to do with insurance and also tax. That is out of the scope of this post.
How it affects internship?
If you are a student and you don’t have a mandatory internship in your course, then it is very important that you should have the allowed 120 full days. It is especially important while you are searching for an internship in the first half of the year (till June). Most of the companies look for candidates who can do an internship for 6 months. If you do not have the working days, then it might not be possible to get an internship.
The working days will not affect the students who are doing a mandatory internship and writing their thesis. Because these are part of your studies and those will not be deducted from the 120 allowed working days for the international students.
Best months for doing a part-time job
Based on my experience, I have some suggestions for the students who are willing to do a part-time job in Germany. I have categorized the internship types and thesis.
- Voluntary internship (Freiwilliges Praktikum)
- Mandatory internship (Pflichtpraktikum)
- Thesis
Voluntary internship (Freiwilliges Praktikum)
If your study does not consist of a mandatory internship, then you should be very careful. If you are planning to do an internship in the current year, it is good to avoid doing part-time jobs till June.
Reason
- In case if you do a part-time job till May, then you will lose your allowed working days and it will be an issue for doing a 6 months internship.
- If you haven’t found an internship till June, you can do a part-time job.
- If you found an internship after June then you can resign from your part-time job and join the internship. You will be having sufficient allowed working hours.
Mandatory internship (Pflichtpraktikum)
If your study consists of a mandatory internship, then you can work at any time. Because your internship will not be affected due to the part-time job working days.
Thesis
If you are planning to do only the thesis in a company, then you can do a part-time at any time. Because thesis will be a part of your studies and it will not be deducted from the allowed 120 working days.
Note
It is always good to support your studies through part-time jobs. But, if the part-time jobs reduce the chances of getting an Internship, then it does not make any sense to do one. So, before signing a Part-time job contract, do think about your internship and the permissible working days.
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