Before you leave Germany: checklist
Contact
Advisor for international doctoral candidates and researchers
Service for international researchers
Face-to-face office hours:
Links
Before you leave Germany: checklist
If your stay in Oldenburg is drawing to an end there are a few things you should take care of before you leave. To help avoid last-minute stress we have put together a checklist for you:
Approx. three months before you leave
- Cancel your rental agreement ("Mietvertrag") now at the very latest, and check with your landlord whether renovation work or repairs need to be carried out before you move out.
- Cancel the contracts with your electricity and gas providers now at the very latest.
- File your tax declaration (if necessary a tax adviser can take care of this for you).
- Make an appointment with an adviser from the German Federal Pension Fund ("Deutsche Rentenversicherung") and find out what pension claims you have as regards reimbursement of pension contributions or pension payments when you retire. This is only necessary if you worked for the University on an employment contract (rather than on a scholarship, for example), and paid into the German Federal Pension Fund.
- Check with the university's Personnel Division or your scholarship provider whether you will receive your final salary payment or the final instalment of your scholarship before you leave.
- Cancel any contracts with telephone companies or mobile network and/or internet providers, in accordance with the respective period of notice.
- Cancel any newspaper or magazine subscriptions.
- Cancel any club or society memberships.
Approx. one month before you leave
- Moving abroad? Deregister at the Citizens' Office of the City of Oldenburg (up to 1 week before moving out, but no later than 2 weeks after leaving). Required documents: Deregistration form and identity card or (travel) passport. Note: At the moment (as of 28/01/2021) you can also deregister by email. Please attach the required documents to your email. If necessary, please contact the Citizens' Office to find out whether this regulation is still valid or whether you need to deregister in person.
- If you have children who have been attending a childcare facility or school in Oldenburg, inform the facility so that they can be de-registered.
- Inform your insurance agents that you will soon be leaving Oldenburg
- Make arrangements with your landlord about how and when your security deposit will be reimbursed.
- If you want your post to be forwarded to a new address, fill in and send off a Deutsche Post change of address order form ("Nachsendeauftrag").
- If you have been paying the compulsory radio and TV licence fees ("Rundfunkbeitrag"), de-register with the ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice.
- If you wish to have luggage conveyed to your new address, make the necessary arrangements with a shipping agent.
- If you opened a bank account in Germany we recommend that you wait until a few days prior to your departure before closing it.
On the day of your departure
- Make a note of the readings on the electricity, gas and water meters in your flat and have your landlord confirm and log them.
- Check the flat and stairway for any damage that could have occurred in the course of moving out.
- Leave the apartment clean, as agreed with your landlord.
- Check that you have not forgotten anything inside the flat and that you have taken care of everything. Then return the keys to the flat to your landlord.
We hope you had a pleasant stay in Oldenburg and we would be delighted to see you again!