Studying and Working

Working part-time on a study visa is allowed but has many limitations. Authorities understand that many students need to earn money to study but it’s not wanted that one is just looking to work and use a façade of studying to do so.

This site tells the rules in English:

http://www.internationale-studierende.d … g/jobbing/

A few points from the site:

As of August 2012 international students who do not come from the EU or EEA are allowed to work 120 full or 240 half days in a year. To do this they do not need authorization from the Employment Agency, i.e. the German authorities.

International students who do not come from the EU cannot go self-employed or work freelance!

One exception, however, is the occupation of academic or student assistant.

Of course there are jobs for engineers in Germany. But getting one will depend on one’s qualifications and one usually needs to speak good German. But non- EU or EEA foreign students can only work part-time and I doubt there are many part-time engineering jobs.

Munawar84 wrote:

I heard that in Germany in most of the universities there is no tution fees and scholarship is easier to get. Is is right??

It is correct that most courses at German university only incur a small administrative fee (EUR150-300 per semester). Only certain courses like MBA and similar have tuition fees.
But you need to pay for your own living expenses, which is not cheap. To get a student visa, you must show approx. EUR8300 in financial reserves for each year of studies - and even that allows you only bare survival (the number is tied to the official poverty line!). It is better to have more!
Scholarships exist, but are generally reserved for those who have shown academic excellence. There are very few or none for undergraduates. There are other assistance schemes (e.g. student loans) for needy German and EU students only.

TominStuttgart wrote:

As of August 2012 international students who do not come from the EU or EEA are allowed to work 120 full or 240 half days in a year. To do this they do not need authorization from the Employment Agency, i.e. the German authorities.

Yeah exactly, I know plenty of people here who quite comfortably take on 'mini-jobs' under this basis to support their studies. Cafes and bars are always a good shout!

What some people don’t realize is that Germany has not always had tuition free University. The fees depended on the region and slowly creep up over the years until a couple of years ago when they were mostly abolished. But there has also been a strong debate about whether or not non-EU foreign students shouldn’t be expected to pay. After all, they are not paying taxes in the country and providing education cost a lot of money. The following link is to an article (in German) in one of the major German news magazines that towards the end covers this subject. They mention for example that the College of Music and Theater in Leipzig now charges non-EU foreigners 1800 Euro a semester. I had also heard of plans recently of Universities to start charging foreigners but don’t know the details of where, how much or how far along this idea is to being implemented.

http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/un … 26683.html

In general, this site, also in English, provides information about requirements for foreign students and projected costs. As Beppi mentioned even without tuition, one has living costs and Germany is not exactly a cheap place to live.

http://www.studying-in-germany.org/

exsiddy wrote:

I know plenty of people here who quite comfortably take on 'mini-jobs' under this basis to support their studies. Cafes and bars are always a good shout!

Yes, you can support your student finances by doing part-time jobs on the side, but you CANNOT finance your complete living and other expenses that way.

Scholarships exist for those with very good to excellent academic records. Are you among the best 10% of all students? If not, then don't waste your time applying.

beppi wrote:

exsiddy wrote:

I know plenty of people here who quite comfortably take on 'mini-jobs' under this basis to support their studies. Cafes and bars are always a good shout!

Yes, you can support your student finances by doing part-time jobs on the side, but you CANNOT finance your complete living and other expenses that way.

Indeed, sorry I should have been clearer. If at all possible it's great to have some savings to back you up!