How do I insure myself properly for my work visa application?

It is compulsory to join a German health insurance from the day you take up residence in Germany - independent of when you start work (although I assume the two dates are close to each other in your case). You have three months after arrival to retroactively join an insurance.
As far as I know, no foreign insurance fulfils the German statutory requirements, so you need to select a German insurance from the public or private scheme. Read about the advantages and disadvantages of the two schemes! There are webpages listing all insurers, e.g. https://www.krankenkassen.de/gesetzlich … sen-liste/ for public and https://www.krankenkassenzentrale.de/li … cherungen# for private ones.
You won't find information on rates, because in the public scheme they are fixed as percentage of your income and in the private scheme they depend on the insurer, your age, health conditions, chosen coverage and too many more factors to make a simple list possible.

Thank you so much for it your quick reply, Beppi!

When you say I need to be insured from the day I take up residency, do you mean the day I register my anmeldung? And this has to be with one of the public or private German health insurance companies in the websites you listed (so international travel insurance doesn’t count)?

So if I register my anmeldung on Feb. 20 and I go to apply for my work visa on Feb. 21, before Feb. 20 I have to be insured with a German health insurance company?

How do I register for public health insurance before I start my employment (since I won’t have an income to contribute from yet)?

Thanks!

Normally your date of entering the country on a residence visa is counted as start of insurance - the Anmeldung can be up to two weeks (I think) later.
In the public scheme, as long as you are without employment, your world income is taken into consideration and the fee is a minimum of approx. EUR190/month (this number has just been halved since January 2019 - lucky you!).
In the private scheme, fees are independent of income in any case.

Hello,

I will actually be entering the country on a tourist visa, not a residence visa. I plan to apply for the work visa in person at the immigration office in Leipzig.

When I do apply at this office, do I have to show that I have been insured in the German health insurance system (GVR) since I entered the country? Or will travel insurance do until my visa is approved as long as I have already applied for a GVR that will commence when my employment date begins?

I don‘t think they care how (or if) you were insured before the visa you are applying for.
Isn‘t the question about how you will be insured once you start work?

I'm more concerned about the gap of insurance when my visa is being approved.

My insurance through my employer doesn't begin until my first day of employment. I can't have my first day of employment until my work visa is approved. However, to apply for the work visa, I have to show that I have health insurance during the entire period while the visa is being processed.

So during the gap between when I apply for the work visa and I wait for the work visa to be approved, I have no insurance. 1) Do I have to get insurance for this time period? 2) How can I get insurance for this time period, and which insurance companies are accepted?

1. i don‘t know. Since you are on tourist visa during that time, was it a requiremen to get the visa that you are insured? If not, why would this change because you applied for another visa aterwards?
2. on tourist visa you can chose any travel insurance - it does not need to be a German one.

Pocashanti wrote:

I'm more concerned about the gap of insurance when my visa is being approved.

My insurance through my employer doesn't begin until my first day of employment. I can't have my first day of employment until my work visa is approved. However, to apply for the work visa, I have to show that I have health insurance during the entire period while the visa is being processed.

So during the gap between when I apply for the work visa and I wait for the work visa to be approved, I have no insurance. 1) Do I have to get insurance for this time period? 2) How can I get insurance for this time period, and which insurance companies are accepted?

I question the statement "insurance through my employer"?! This is common for big companies in the US but NOT done in Germany. The reason being that losing one's job in such a case means losing your insurance. Getting a work visa and determining which insurance, public or private, you are eligible for will depend on many factors including who you work for and your level of income. So one needs cooperation from an employer to get insurance but they don't directly provided it. There have been many threads on this site about health insurance which can be very complex.

The question which comes to mind here is:

How do you enter Germany on a Tourist Visa and then apply for a Work Permit? (I may be wrong, but this is not the usual procedure, neh?)

I have dealt with both Leipzig and Berlin in terms of Visa and Anmeldung, and your case baffles me. Aren't you suppose to apply for your work permit BEFORE entering Germany?

You cannot apply for insurance from a German company if your work permit and Anmeldung aren't in order. Your employer cannot pay for half of your insurance either at this point. How are they (the entity employing you) not involved in all this? This is strange.

It would be much appreciated when forum users who ask questions revert back to let those who have helped know how things went.

This would also be useful for anybody else searching for similar answers to their queries.