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Incoming cover for the visa, then public or private
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Incoming health insurance for the visa and your first months
Advertising notice: provider links in this overview are affiliate links — we receive a commission from the provider for sign-ups made through them.
Both plans are accepted for the visa and run until a job subject to social security begins. Employees earning more than €77,400 a year and the self-employed can also apply for full private health insurance; those plans follow further down.
- Required from your first day: anyone who lives in Germany must be insured, either in public health insurance or with a private policy from an insurer authorised in Germany that pays for outpatient and hospital treatment. Embassies and immigration offices check your cover before they issue a visa or residence permit.
- Before a job starts: job seekers, Opportunity Card holders, language students and new freelancers usually begin with an incoming policy, often sold as expat health insurance. Monthly premiums for the plans sold in English start between €34.50 and about €72 (provider websites, as of 4 October 2026).
- With a German employment contract: you are insured through the job from your first working day, in public health insurance — or, with a salary above €77,400 a year, in public or private insurance as you choose.
- Freelancers and the self-employed: no compulsory public insurance. A public fund accepts them only with enough earlier public cover, so most freelancers who arrive from abroad insure privately.
- Who sells it in English: ottonova is a licensed private health insurer; Feather and DR-WALTER are licensed insurance agents, and the insurer behind each policy is named in its terms.
Which cover you need: visa, job or freelancing
For the basic question — public or private — German law looks at what you do here, not at your passport or the insurer you prefer: work for an employer, run your own business, study, or prepare for one of these. Your status decides which system you belong to, and it can change during your first year, typically on the day a job starts.
Two rules apply to everyone. First, every person living in Germany has to hold health insurance: public insurance, or a private policy with an insurer authorised to do business in Germany that covers at least outpatient and hospital treatment, with deductibles of no more than €5,000 a year (§ 193 (3) Insurance Contract Act). Second, a visa or residence permit requires that you can support yourself, including adequate health insurance cover, without public funds; membership of a public health insurance fund always counts as adequate (§ 2 (3) Residence Act).
| Your situation | What you need | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Visa and first weeks, no job yet (job seeker, Opportunity Card, language course, Blue Card holder before the start date) | Health insurance valid in Germany for the whole stay, usually an incoming (expat) policy | § 2 (3) Residence Act; Make it in Germany (Federal Government) |
| Employee with a salary up to the threshold | Public health insurance from the first working day; you choose the fund | § 5 (1) no. 1, §§ 173 and 175 Social Code Book V (SGB V) |
| Employee with a salary above the threshold | Private health insurance, or public insurance as a voluntary member: in your first job in Germany, within three months of the start | § 6 (1) no. 1, § 9 (1) no. 3 and (2) SGB V |
| Freelancer or self-employed | Private health insurance; public insurance only with enough earlier public cover | § 5 (5), § 9 (1) no. 1 SGB V |
| Student at a German university | Public student insurance until 30, or private cover after an exemption that cannot be revoked | § 5 (1) no. 9, § 8 (1) no. 5 and (2) SGB V |
| Spouse and children | Free family insurance with a publicly insured member if their own income is low; in private insurance a policy for each person | § 10 SGB V |
| Source: Social Code Book V, Insurance Contract Act and Residence Act (gesetze-im-internet.de), Make it in Germany, read on 4 October 2026. Threshold for 2026: €77,400 a year (Social Insurance Calculation Values Ordinance). | ||
The threshold in the table is the compulsory insurance limit, set by the federal government every year. For 2027 the Federal Ministry of Labour’s draft of 21 September 2026 proposes €84,150; the cabinet and the Bundesrat still have to approve it.
Before your job starts: incoming (expat) health insurance
Until your first working day, public insurance is usually not open to you: without a job there is no compulsory membership, and voluntary membership needs earlier public cover. For this phase the Federal Government’s Make it in Germany portal tells Opportunity Card applicants that they can first take out private health insurance that is valid in Germany. For the EU Blue Card it notes that the visa needs proof of valid cover and that new health insurance has to be taken out after you enter Germany. More on the visas themselves: Opportunity Card, EU Blue Card, job seeker visa and freelance visa.
Incoming insurance is a private travel health policy for people from abroad who stay in Germany for a limited time; DR-WALTER’s product information sheets call it travel insurance for persons from abroad during a temporary stay in Germany and the EU. Feather sells the same kind of cover as expat health insurance and states that it meets the requirements for most first visas and residence permits. Whether a policy is accepted is decided by the mission or immigration office that handles your application, so have the insurance certificate ready when you apply.
Four features set these policies apart from public or full private insurance:
- A fixed end date: DR-WALTER’s PROVISIT Germany runs for up to two years, EDUCARE24 for up to four, and Feather’s newcomer plans for up to five years from the day you entered Germany.
- No cover for what you already have: illnesses that existed when the policy started are excluded, and so are some routine services: PROVISIT Germany pays for no preventive check-ups, EDUCARE24 for no psychotherapy, and Feather covers preventive care only in its premium plan.
- Waiting periods and paying first: Feather applies a standard waiting period of 31 days, and you pay the doctor yourself and claim the money back; EDUCARE24 advertises direct billing with doctors.
- They end with a regular job: once you work in a job subject to social security, you are insured through that job and switch to public or private insurance.
| Plan | Monthly premium from | Made for | Longest term | Sold by, underwritten by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DR-WALTER EDUCARE24 | €34.50 (plan S, up to age 39); €58.50 up to age 69 | Language students, interns, researchers and job seekers with the Opportunity Card; buy within the first month after entry | 4 years | DR-WALTER GmbH, multiple-tied insurance agent; Generali Deutschland Krankenversicherung AG |
| DR-WALTER PROVISIT Germany | €38.50 (up to age 29, bought before or within a month of entry); €64 up to age 69 | National (D) visas, longer stays, work and travel, extensions of stay; up to age 69 | 2 years | DR-WALTER GmbH; Generali Deutschland Krankenversicherung AG |
| Feather expat health | about €72, depending on basic or premium plan | Newcomers not yet in public or private insurance: job seekers, Opportunity Card, freelancers, students over 30, the gap before a Blue Card job | 5 years from entry | Feather (Popsure Deutschland GmbH), licensed insurance agent; insurer named in the policy terms |
| Source: DR-WALTER product pages and product information sheets, Feather product page, read on 4 October 2026. Premiums rise with age and plan level; all three exclude illnesses that existed before the policy started. | ||||
A short Schengen visit for tourism or business is a different case with its own rules for travel insurance, covered on our page on health insurance for the Schengen visa.
Starting a job: public insurance, or private above the threshold
A job that pays more than the mini-job limit of €603 a month makes you a compulsory member of public health insurance from your first working day (§ 5 (1) no. 1 SGB V); a mini job alone does not insure you (§ 7 SGB V). The exception is a regular annual salary above the compulsory insurance limit of €77,400: from that salary you are free of compulsory insurance and decide yourself (§ 6 (1) no. 1 SGB V).
Below the threshold: public health insurance
You pick the fund (Krankenkasse) and give its name to your employer. If you have not done so within two weeks of starting, your employer registers you with a fund that you could have chosen and tells you which one (§ 175 (3) SGB V). Every fund pays the same statutory core benefits; the contribution is the general rate of 14.6% plus your fund’s additional rate, on average 2.9%, of your gross salary up to €69,750 a year, and your employer pays half of it (§ 249 SGB V). Long-term care insurance comes on top. How to compare funds and register is set out on our page on public health insurance for expats.
For crowns, bridges and dentures, public insurance pays a fixed subsidy based on the diagnosis rather than a share of the treatment you choose (§ 55 SGB V). Supplementary dental insurance closes part of that gap; the plans sold in English are compared on our page on dental insurance for expats.
Above the threshold: private or public, your choice
With a salary above the limit you may take out private health insurance or stay in public insurance as a voluntary member. If this is your first job in Germany, you have three months from its start to join a fund (§ 9 (1) no. 3 and (2) no. 3 SGB V). With private insurance your employer pays a subsidy of up to half the premium, capped at what it would pay towards public insurance (§ 257 SGB V). The premium depends on your age at entry, your health and the plan, not on your salary, and every family member needs a policy of their own.
Advertising notice: provider links in this overview are affiliate links — we receive a commission from the provider for sign-ups made through them.
Two providers sell full private health insurance with English-language service: ottonova, a licensed private health insurer, and Feather, a licensed insurance agent whose plans are underwritten by the insurers named in the terms. ottonova also offers a plan for nationals of non-EU countries with a temporary residence permit who plan to stay up to five years, First Class Expats. It builds no ageing reserves and costs less for that reason; ottonova’s own example shows an employee share of €196 a month for a 32-year-old employee (with daily sickness allowance and premium relief in old age, no risk surcharge), and you can move to its regular plans later without new health questions (ottonova, as of 4 October 2026). The insurers that offer full private cover in Germany are listed in our directory of private health insurers; how private cover works in detail is on our page on private health insurance in Germany.
Every application asks health questions in writing. Answer them completely: if you leave out something you knew and were asked about, the insurer may withdraw from the contract (§ 19 Insurance Contract Act).
Freelancers and the self-employed: private cover in most cases
Self-employment as your main occupation does not make you a compulsory member of public health insurance (§ 5 (5) SGB V). A fund accepts you as a voluntary member only if you were publicly insured long enough before: at least 24 months in the last five years, or twelve months without a break immediately before (§ 9 (1) no. 1 SGB V). Newcomers from abroad rarely have that German insurance history, so most insure privately and pay the whole premium themselves, as there is no employer to share it.
There is a fall-back public insurance for people without any cover (§ 5 (1) no. 13 SGB V), but it does not reach every newcomer. Nationals of non-EU countries come under it only if their residence permit was issued without the requirement to support themselves (§ 5 (11) SGB V). A permit granted on proof that you can live on your own means, health insurance included, leaves you to arrange your cover yourself.
In practice many freelancers start with an incoming policy for the freelance visa and the first months: Feather names the freelance and self-employment visa among the permits its expat plan is used for, and PROVISIT Germany is built for national visas. Once the business runs, a full private plan follows; ottonova’s First Class Expats plan is open to self-employed non-EU nationals with a temporary permit as well. Both routes are compared on our pages on health insurance for freelancers and private health insurance for freelancers.
Students, families and EU citizens
Students
Students at a German university are compulsory members of public health insurance until they turn 30 (§ 5 (1) no. 9 SGB V). Within three months of the start you can apply to be exempted and insure privately instead, but the exemption cannot be revoked (§ 8 (1) no. 5 and (2) SGB V) and binds you for the rest of your studies. Both options are compared on our pages on public student health insurance and private student health insurance.
Families
In public insurance your spouse and children are insured free of charge through you as long as their own income stays below the family insurance limit (§ 10 SGB V). In private insurance each family member pays a premium of their own. With one salary above the threshold and a partner or children without an income of their own, compare both totals before you choose; the rules for both systems are on our page on health insurance for families.
EU citizens
The European Health Insurance Card covers treatment that cannot wait during a temporary stay in another EU country, such as a holiday, a business trip or a study stay (European Union, Your Europe). It is not meant for living in Germany: once you move here and take up a job, you are insured through that job under the same rules as everyone else.
Moving on: from incoming cover to public or private insurance
An incoming policy is a start, not a destination. When a job subject to social security begins, you are insured through it from the first day. Cancel the incoming policy for that date: Feather plans can be cancelled at any time and stop with the next monthly billing, and DR-WALTER advertises free cancellation to the day for PROVISIT Germany.
Leaving private insurance is harder than entering it. If your salary falls below the limit, public insurance becomes compulsory again; from the age of 55, however, you stay in private insurance if you were not publicly insured during the previous five years and were free of compulsory insurance, exempt from it or self-employed for at least half of that time (§ 6 (3a) SGB V). Choose private cover with that in mind, and see our page on switching back to public health insurance before you plan on it.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, if you need a visa. The mission that issues it asks for proof of valid health insurance, and the cover has to last for your whole stay in Germany. The Federal Government’s Make it in Germany portal tells Opportunity Card applicants that they can first take out private health insurance that is valid in Germany; for the EU Blue Card it notes that new health insurance has to be taken out after entry. Incoming plans can be bought before you travel. DR-WALTER also sells EDUCARE24 within the first month after entry and PROVISIT Germany up to a year after entry, at a higher price.
A short Schengen visit for tourism or business has its own rules for travel insurance. For a national visa and a stay of months or years, the policy has to cover you in Germany for the whole period, which is what incoming plans are built for: DR-WALTER describes them as travel insurance for persons from abroad during a temporary stay in Germany and the EU, and Feather states that its expat plan meets the requirements of most first visas and residence permits. A travel policy from your home country may not meet the conditions, so check with the mission before you rely on it.
Not with a regular job. A job that pays more than the mini-job limit makes you a compulsory member of public health insurance from the first working day; with a salary above the compulsory insurance limit you may choose private insurance instead (§§ 5 and 6 SGB V). Feather, for example, asks expat customers who take up regular employment to switch to public or private health insurance and helps with the move, while a mini job, freelancing or a job with an employer abroad does not end its expat plan. Cancel the incoming policy for the day your new cover starts.
Only if your regular annual salary is above the compulsory insurance limit, which the federal government sets every year (§ 6 (1) no. 1 SGB V); below it, public insurance is compulsory. Above it you choose between private insurance and public insurance as a voluntary member, which you can join within three months of starting your first job in Germany (§ 9 SGB V). Your employer pays a subsidy towards a private policy of up to half the premium, capped at its share of the public contribution (§ 257 SGB V). The insurer decides on your application after health questions.
Public insurance takes self-employed people only as voluntary members, and only with earlier public cover: at least 24 months in the last five years or twelve months without a break immediately before (§ 9 (1) no. 1 SGB V). Without that history, private health insurance is the route, often after an incoming policy for the freelance visa and the first months. The fall-back public insurance does not help non-EU nationals whose residence permit required them to support themselves (§ 5 (11) SGB V), so arrange your cover before the permit is issued.
It depends on the route. Incoming plans sold in English start at €34.50 a month (DR-WALTER EDUCARE24, up to age 39), €38.50 (PROVISIT Germany, up to age 29) and about €72 (Feather expat health), according to the providers’ websites on 4 October 2026. In public insurance employees pay a share of their gross salary up to a yearly income ceiling: the general rate plus their fund’s additional rate, half of it paid by the employer, and long-term care insurance on top. Private premiums depend on age, health and plan; ottonova’s example for its First Class Expats plan is an employee share of €196 a month for a 32-year-old.
Sources and legal basis (as of 4 October 2026)
Statutes (Federal Ministry of Justice, gesetze-im-internet.de, retrieved on 4 October 2026): Social Code Book V (SGB V) § 5 (compulsory insurance, self-employed, fall-back insurance), § 6 (compulsory insurance limit, age 55), § 7 (mini jobs), § 8 (exemption of students), § 9 (voluntary membership), § 10 (family insurance), § 55 (dental subsidies), § 173 and § 175 (choice of fund), § 249 (contribution shares), § 257 (employer subsidy for private insurance); Insurance Contract Act § 19 (health questions) and § 193 (duty to be insured); Residence Act § 2 (adequate health insurance cover).
Official figures (retrieved on 4 October 2026): Social Insurance Calculation Values Ordinance 2026; Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, draft Calculation Values Ordinance 2027 of 21 September 2026 and press release.
Federal Government and European Union (retrieved on 4 October 2026): Make it in Germany, Opportunity Card: first steps in Germany and EU Blue Card at a glance; Your Europe, health cover for temporary stays.
Providers and their status (retrieved on 4 October 2026): DR-WALTER EDUCARE24 with product information sheet, PROVISIT Germany with product information sheet and consumer information (insurers, agent status); Feather expat health insurance and legal notice (insurance agent under § 34d (1) Trade Regulation Act); ottonova private health insurance for expats and expat tariff for foreigners (German); Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, company database: ottonova Krankenversicherung AG.
Prices and plan details in the cards at the top come from our own product database and are refreshed automatically; the incoming plans are listed with the starting prices the providers published on the date given.