How to Move to Germany on a Working Holiday

A working holiday is a fantastic opportunity to live, work and travel in Germany for up to 1 year. Working Holiday Visas are simple to apply for and are available to young citizens of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Uruguay.

So how exactly do you move to Germany on a working holiday? Follow our checklist below…

Working Holiday Visa

To do a working holiday in Germany, you first need a Working Holiday Visa.

The visa permits you to live, work and travel in Germany for up to 1 year, and does not require that you have a job lined up in Germany in advance of your arrival.

To find out how to apply, see our guides:

Health Insurance

Suitable health insurance is a key prerequisite for obtaining a German Working Holiday Visa. The insurance must cover:

  • The full duration of the 1-year Working Holiday Visa.

  • At least €30,000 in medical expenses.

  • Repatriation.

For working holidaymakers in Germany, our favourite health insurance is Feather’s Expat Health Insurance. To find out why this policy is well suited, see our German Health Insurance Guide.

Accommodation

When arriving in Germany on a working holiday, a priority will be finding suitable accommodation. To ensure you have a roof over your head from day 1, we recommend that you book a short-term, furnished apartment before arriving in Germany.

Once in Germany, you will then have plenty of time to navigate Germany’s vast rental market and secure a longer-term place to call home.

To explore your options, including how to find a room in a flatshare, see our German Apartment Hunting Guide.

Once you have found suitable accommodation in Germany, it is essential that you complete your address registration (Anmeldung). For further guidance, see our German Anmeldung Guide.

Banking

When arriving in Germany on a working holiday, you will no doubt want easy access to your money while avoiding foreign transaction fees, slow money transfers and costly ATM fees.

The best way to achieve this is by opening a German bank account, which can be opened online in just a few minutes. In particular, we recommend opening an account with N26 or bunq, two market-leading online banks that are perfectly suited to working holidaymakers in Germany.

For further tips, see our Banking in Germany Guide.

German private liability

Personal Liability Insurance

While optional, everyone in Germany should have personal liability insurance, which covers you in the event of personal injury or property damage to a third party. Without this, even fairly innocuous accidents and mishaps can have grave financial consequences.

When it comes to personal liability insurance providers, our favourite policy is with Feather. For further information about the benefits of private liability insurance and why you should have it when living in Germany, see our Private Liability Insurance Guide.

Working in Germany

You are permitted to work in Germany on a Working Holiday Visa. For advice on how to find a job in Germany, see our German Job Hunting Guide and German Job Board Guide.

Once you have found a job, your employer will require a number of documents to fully onboard you as a German employee. This includes your:

For full details on how to get hold of all these documents, see our Starting Work in Germany Guide.