Here you can find out where to get information about funding your return, or about what to do if you are returning to your home country without finishing your degree.

Cancelling your Registration

Before you return home it is necessary to cancel your registration at the Einwohnermeldeamt (Residents’ Registration Office). If you live within the Osnabrück city limits, you must go to the städtisches Bürgeramt (Municipal Residents’ Department). If you live in the region of Osnabrück, visit your local Einwohnermeldeamt.

Dematriculation

Before leaving, you must dematriculate (cancel your registration) at your university. Caution! As soon as your name is removed from the register of students, your residence permit ends as well. Contact the Ausländerbehörde der Stadt Osnabrück (Aliens’Office of the City of Osnabrück) for information that will help you coordinate your dematriculation with the end of your residence permit. 

Cancellations

There are several cancellations that you must make on time in order to save yourself trouble and financial disadvantages:

• In general you must cancel your apartment lease three months before moving out. Make sure to read through your contract: do you need to renovate before leaving? Take into account the cost and time you will need for the renovation!

• When moving out, you must give your utilities company the meter reading on your electricity and/or gas meter. Don’t forget to leave behind your new address for the final invoice! If anything is unclear you can contact the company’s customer service staff, and they will be happy to assist you.

• Cancel your telephone in time. And as noted before: leave behind your new address for the final invoice.

• In general, mobile phone contracts must be cancelled 6 months in advance. Otherwise,  most companies will renew your contract automatically!

• Cancel your insurances.

• Sign off at the health insurance.

• Your bank account should be cancelled shortly before your departure. If you are expecting further payments to be transferred to you, you should provide an alternate account, for example that of a person you trust who can give you the money later on. 

• Have you subscribed to a newspaper or journal? If so, you should cancel the subscription in time, as they tend to be renewed automatically, too.

• If you own a BahnCard, please keep in mind that this is a subscription that also renews itself automatically. Cancel it in time!

Transcripts and Certificates

Do you have certificates for all the courses you've attended and exams you've  taken in Germany? If this is not the case, you should acquire all certificates and notices before your departure! It is much harder to obtain missing documents later from abroad. Don’t forget to have your internships certified as well.

Keep in mind that certificates in your national language always leave a better impression. That is why you should get the translation of your certificates notarized, to ensure that they will be accepted as valid. Notarized translations must be obtained from sworn translators, who will charge you a fee. You can find a list of them in the Gelbe Seiten (Yellow Pages) under "Übersetzungen" (translations).

Pension Fund

Graduates who worked while they were students in Germany and who were required to pay into the pension fund are in some cases entitled to get back their employee’s share of the payments up to two years after their departure. Here one of the crucial factors is that you do not come from another country within the European Community or a country that has acquired a social insurance treaty with Germany.

Before your departure, you should inform yourself about this possibility and obtain the forms in question. Further details can be found at the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German Pension Insurance).

Financial Support for Your Return

If your return to your home country is accompanied by extreme material hardship, you can try to solicit financial support. Whether or not you will receive this kind of support depends on what country you are from, and what your plans are for working once you have returned.

Information about re-integration programmes and possible financial support for your return is available at the Evangelische Studierendengemeinde, the World University Service and the Zentralstelle für Arbeitsvermittlung.

Returning Without a Degree

It may seem difficult to leave one’s host country after living there for several years.  
However,  professional as well as private perspectives in one’s home country make it easier to say goodbye: a new chapter in life awaits you. It is incomparably harder to return home without obtaining the aspired degree. In many countries this is seen as a loss of face, although there are many reasons why a course of studies might not be completed successfully. International students are often under particular pressure because of financial and linguistic barriers.

If you are afraid of returning to your home country, for example, because you have not fulfilled your family’s expectations, you should seek advice while you are still in Germany. You can find help at the Psychosoziale Beratungsstelle and the Evangelische Studierendengemeinde, among others.

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