Researchers With a Family
Contact
Are you planning a stay in Aachen with your family or spouse? Even now, at the planning stage, there are important things to think about. As a family-friendly university, RWTH Aachen University is not only committed to supporting you and your family in Aachen but will also help you with arrangements to have your family join you in Germany.
We want you to be able to adjust to life in Aachen quickly and also care about your family's well-being. We hope you'll enjoy your stay here from day one! Please let the Welcome Center know well ahead of time if you plan on having your family join you in Aachen so that we can assist you with official matters and arrangements.
Take a look at what Aachen has to offer families!
Also check out the following helpful information regarding different family topics, including contacts:
Our Services for You
Family Reunion
Depending on your citizenship, your family members may also need a visa to stay in Aachen. Please note that it may take several months for a visa to be issued.
First of all, find out whether your family needs to apply for a visa. You will find the exact requirements for applying for a visa on the website of the responsible German representation abroad.
The Welcome Center will be happy to advise and support you with individual questions regarding your family joining you in Germany.
Further Information:
Childcare
The demand for places in day care centers far outweighs supply, so sufficient childcare is a problem for parents who are studying or working. If you come to Aachen with children of kindergarten age, you should therefore find out about childcare options as early as possible and look for a childcare place from your home country. The Welcome Center will gladly refer you to the University's Family Services Center, which specializes in this topic.
Schools
School attendance is compulsory for all children aged 6 to 15 years living in Germany for a longer period of time, i.e. your child must attend a state-approved school for a period of more than three months. Attendance at state schools is free of charge in Germany. In North Rhine-Westphalia the school year usually starts in August or September after the six-week summer vacation. For all children, school attendance begins with primary school, which covers the first four years of school. After that, there is a choice between different types of secondary schools in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The website deutschland.de provides a good overview of the different types of schools.
You should contact the Welcome Center or the Family Services Center of RWTH regarding this matter as early as possible, preferably from your home country, especially if your children do not yet speak German or do not speak German well enough. We will be happy to assist you in finding a suitable school for your children.
Family Benefits
Families receive state support in Germany. Child benefit is one of the most important benefits for families, because it goes to families and thus serves as direct financial help. Parental allowance, on the other hand, compensates the lack of income due to parents caring for their child after birth. There are also other family benefits. The Family Services Center of RWTH Aachen University will be happy to give you detailed advice on all questions regarding family benefits.
Dual Career
The Dual Career Service supports the partners of newly appointed professors of RWTH Aachen University from Germany and abroad in their professional reorientation in Aachen and the surrounding area.
Within the framework of the youRegion project, Division 8.5 – Appointment Management and Civil Servants – is building a cross-border career network together with project partners. The aim is to be able to support international partners of our researchers (PhD students and postdocs) in their job search in the in the Interreg Euregio Meuse-Rhine area, which covers parts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, including the Aachen region. Through good personal networking with universities and international companies in the Euregion, access to the job market in the Euregion is to be simplified.
Contact:
Magdalena Reschke
Phone: +49 (0)241-80 92530
Email
You can also use the information about job search on Make It in Germany.
Information for accompanying spouses and partners
The Welcome Center would also like to offer assistance to the spouses or partners of international scientists and researchers at RWTH Aachen University as they arrive in Aachen.
Every winter semester, we also organize a German course for accompanying spouses and partners of international researchers staying in Aachen.
For further information and to be added to our mailing list, please feel free to contact us, even before you arrive in Aachen.
Kathrin Fedosov
Welcome Center for International Researchers
Templergraben 57
52062 Aachen
Telephone: +49 241-80 92571
Email
Events
RWTH Aachen is a place of international encounters, with ten thousand employees from all over the world, who live in Aachen with their families. In order to support and encourage diversity, the Welcome Center of the International Office and the Family Services Center cordially invite you and your family to our international family events.