Welcome and Family Office

Let us give you a warm welcome to Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine. We wish your stay to be pleasant and successful and would like to offer our help and assistance in all issues of life and work in Germany.

Please, find some brochures for the very first steps after arrival and for settling down in Berlin and at the MDC in detail.

First Steps for Newcomers

Guide for new scientists

We cordially invite you to contact us for any request or call on for help, and would appreciate comments and suggestions to improve our service.

News

Ukraine: At the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, around 1600 people from many different countries work together peacefully, and this way we show that dialogue and international cooperation can create outstanding things. Our research thrives on cooperation, exchange, diversity and tolerance. Together we have experienced the benefits of democracy, peace and freedom - especially in science. At this time, our sympathy goes out in particular to our staff from Ukraine and to all the people in Ukraine who are suffering from the violence. But our sympathy also goes out to those people from Russia and all Central and Eastern European countries who are currently very worried about the future and the safety of their families and friends. The Berlin Immigration Office has established a special website with information for refugees from Ukraine upon arrival in Berlin and the first steps. Currently, we have no special information regarding residence permits etc. and are waiting for the news to come.

Covid-19: Please, notice that there are a lot of restrictions due to the pandemic in Berlin and throughout Germany. We recommend to check the latest news at the official website of the Berlin government. For persons entering from risk areas according to the RKI, it is mandatory now that they register digitally before entering the country. Any person who lived in, visited or traveled through a risk area at any point 10 days prior to entering the Federal Republic of Germany, has to obey the respective quarantine regulations of the responsible federal states and stay in complete self-isolation for 10 days or until a negative test result has been obtained (testing is possible after five days of quarantine at the earliest). Latest rules only allow working when being vaccinated or convalescent. Please, make sure to be immunized with one of the four vaccines approved for Germany, which are Comirnaty® von BioNTech/Pfizer, Spikevax® (Vaccine Moderna) von Moderna, Vaxzevria® von AstraZeneca und Janssen® von Johnson & Johnson. Otherwise you will have to run a test on a daily basis before start working. Please, contact the MDC hosting group or our Welcome and Family Office for more information.

Here's an overview of Berlin practices offering PCR tests for incoming and outgoing travelers for SARS-CoV2, and the city also extended the possibilities for being tested.

Due to the pandemic spread of the corona virus, the Berlin Immigration Office is currently not in service for the public. Even appointments have already been cancelled and they advise to click at their website for new information. The office has has constantly updated the FAQs and issued General Decrees on that web page. If there are any questions you cannot find sufficient information, feel free to contact us for getting a hotline number of the Immigration office.

You have already made an appointment or your residence permit document is about to expire? Please, get in touch with the MDC Welcome and Family Office (welcome@mdc-berlin.de) to discuss your options. The Immigration Office has been open to submit online applications again and we shall be glad to give assistance.

If you need an appointment to register your address in Berlin at the Inhabitants' Offices (Bürgeramt) please contact us.

New Immigration Act: The Berlin Foreigners’ Office is currently reorganizing its structure and will develop a new Berlin Office of Immigration. In the context of the renewed Immigration Act by 01 March, 2020 they will offer new services for skilled personnel. As of 01 November, 2019, the procedure for obtaining or extending the residence permits has changed already. Usually, now a card (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel "eAT") is produced instead of sticking a label into the passports. This will make necessary to visit the Foreigners’ Office in person for biometric data. MDC Welcome & Family Office shall be glad to organize this for you.

The Federal Foreign Office has updated the FAQs regarding internships in Germany. Basically, all internships are looked on as employments and need the agreement by the Central Office for International Exchange (ZAV) of the Federal Employment Agency. As of now not only internships funded by EU training programs (like ERASMUS) are exempted from this rule. Also, all internships less than 90 days can be done without applying for the agreement. Details, unfortunately only in German at the FAQs section of the Federal Foreign Office.

The federal state government Senat of Berlin has published information and helpful advice for newcomers. It is available in ten languages on the website of the Senate Commissioner for Integration and Migration and offers information for families, about housing, work and education, etc.

Brexit: During the year 2021 British citizens and their families who are residing in Germany according to the Withdrawal Agreement will receive the Aufenthaltsdokument-GB when their notification of residency occurs on time. You will therefore retain all your existing rights under free movement, for example the unlimited right to economic activity, and the right to draw child benefit,etc. It is said if you have already been staying in Germany for 5 years you will automatically get a permanent residence permit, or if you are married to a German or EU member you will obtain a residence permit according to principle of freedom of movement (Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung).

The British Embassy has run over 40 information events for UK nationals living and working in Germany. Please, check the UK Embassy's website for details of the next British Citizens Outreach Meeting in Berlin.

Currently, we expect no difficulties at the borders when re-entering Germany from abroad after the holidays next year. Please, check the information of the Berlin Immigration Office and feel free to contact our Welcome Office directly for questions and assistance. People who are not within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement because they have not lived in Germany before 01.01.2021 will also not have to apply for a working visa if they want to enter MDC for employment beforehand.

Yours sincerely,

Tanja Butzek & Andrea Salerno-Schwarz