Before Leaving Aachen: De-registration and Pension Rights

 

Formalities Before Your Departure

Once you are permanently leaving Germany, there are number of formalities to take care of before your departure:

Cancelling any contracts, taking into account their respective cancellation deadlines:

  • Rental agreement
  • Telephone
  • Electric company
  • Health insurance
  • Bank account
  • etc...

De-Registration

De-register your residence at the Citizens’ Service/Registration Office, one or two days before you leave Aachen:

Bürgerservice (Aachen-Mitte)
Hackländerstraße 1
52064 Aachen
Tel.: +49 241 432-0

Bürgerservice Wespienstraße
Wespienstraße 8-10
52062 Aachen
Tel.: +49 241 432-7777
E-Mail:

Business hours for both offices:

Mon and Wed 8am to 6pm
Tues and Thurs 8am to 12:30pm

Pension Rights

Before you leave Germany, you should find out what will happen with your pension rights you earned through the payments you made.  If you are a citizen of an EU member state or a state, that has a social security agreement with Germany, or are moving to an EU member state where your permanent residence is listed, you should inquire into your rights with your insurance company: EU member states and agreement partners must take into consideration the time spent in Germany that is eligible for pension when looking into pension rights conditions.

If you are returning to a country with which there is no social security agreement, your paid pension contributions in Germany can be returned to you.  After a waiting period of two years, you can submit an application for a Contribution Refund (Rückerstattung der Beiträge) to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. 

Refunded can be the payments that you have made; the employer contribution is not refundable.

We recommend acquiring the necessary application forms before you move abroad, in order to be able to submit all the necessary information to the respective German pension insurance company, directly after the 24 month waiting period has expired.

Detailed information about calculating the pension times and refund for pension fees can be found on the Deutsche Rentenversicherung homepage: Refund of Contributions

You can also find information on the EURAXESS website, which provides advising and information services for international researchers: Pension Scheme

We also recommend becoming familiar with your personal situation at the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Rheinland before you leave:

Deutsche Rentenversicherung Rheinland
Service-Zentrum Aachen
Benediktinerstraße 39
52066 Aachen
Phone +49 241 609602

Business Hours:

Mon, Tue, Wed 7:30 am to 3pm
Thu 7:30 am to 6pm
Fri 7:30am to 6pm

Email:
Website: Service-Zentrum Aachen (de)

 

Registration in the RTWH Aachen University Alumni Network

You are about to leave Aachen after your stay at RWTH Aachen University as guest scientist or postdoc? Then do not forget to register in the RWTH alumni portal! Make use of the many free services offered to research alumni of RWTH Aachen University and the benefits of our global alumni network. By registering in the alumni portal you may subscribe to the alumni magazine, receive the alumni newsletter, apply for an alumni card, and much more.

Find out more on the alumni websites: www.rwth-aachen.de/alumni und www.rwth-aachen.de/research-alumni