You hire someone from abroad and wonder whether social insurance works differently than for a worker from Germany. The short answer: no. From the first working day, the same rules apply — and the same deadlines for you as the employer. This article sets out what to do from day one and where the few genuine exceptions lie.
When the insurance obligation begins
Compulsory social insurance does not begin with naturalisation, not with the first salary and not with an application. It begins when paid employment is taken up — that is, on the first working day. This is not a matter of discretion; it is laid down by law.
The decisive principle is the place-of-employment principle under Section 3 of the German Social Code, Book Four (SGB IV): anyone employed in Germany is subject to German social insurance law — regardless of nationality and regardless of where the employer is based. The passport does not decide. The place of work decides.
The size of this group is shown by one figure: in September 2025, 6.62 million people without a German passport were in employment in Germany (subject to social insurance and marginally employed combined). This is reported by the Institute for Employment Research in the IAB Immigration Monitor of November 2025. International employment is therefore not a legal exception with its own rules, but everyday reality in the German social system.
Same duties, same entitlements
The second principle is just as clear: foreign employees have the same rights and duties as domestic ones. There is no reduced level of protection and no special contributions. In concrete terms, that means five branches of insurance into which contributions are paid from day one:
- Health insurance — contributions are shared by employer and employee.
- Long-term care insurance — likewise shared.
- Pension insurance — likewise shared.
- Unemployment insurance — likewise shared.
- Accident insurance — this is borne by the employer alone.
The sum of all employee and employer shares of the four jointly funded branches is called the total social insurance contribution; the health insurance fund collects it as the central collection point. How high this burden is can be quantified: in 2026 the four branches add up to around 42 percent of gross pay — pension insurance 18.6 percent, health insurance 14.6 percent plus an average supplementary contribution of 2.9 percent, long-term care insurance 3.6 percent and unemployment insurance 2.6 percent (Techniker Krankenkasse, 2026). Employer and employee share this roughly in half; accident insurance is added for the employer alone.
For an international worker exactly the same rates apply — there is no surcharge and no discount because of origin. The contribution assessment ceiling, above which no further contributions are due, likewise knows no nationality. Anyone who suspects a hidden extra burden here is looking for a problem that does not exist.
Equal treatment works in both directions. Those who pay in acquire the same entitlements: medical treatment from the first day, pension rights, a claim to unemployment benefit under the general rules, and the protection of statutory accident insurance in the event of workplace accidents. For the newly gained worker this is a solid argument — they are covered from the first working day just as well as any German colleague.
One nuance concerns marginal employment. The figure of 6.62 million cited above also includes mini-jobbers, for whom different rules apply: the employer pays flat-rate contributions, and in pension insurance there is compulsory insurance with the option of applying for exemption. As soon as the employment exceeds the mini-job threshold, however, full insurance obligation takes effect across all five branches — for international and domestic workers alike.
Residence permit and insurance are two systems
A common misconception is that social insurance depends on the residence permit. It does not. Residence and work permits govern whether someone may work in Germany. Social insurance governs what applies once they are working. Both systems must be in order, but they follow different laws and different authorities.
In practice this means: as soon as the employment is permitted and taken up, the insurance obligation applies in full — regardless of whether residence was granted as a skilled worker under Section 18a or 18b of the Residence Act or as a worker under the Western Balkans rule in Section 26(2) of the Employment Ordinance. The permit determines access to the labour market, not the contribution obligation.
For employers this is a relief: the two levels do not have to be reconciled against each other. If the employment is approved, registration with social insurance follows the same pattern as for any other hire.
What you as an employer do from day one
The real effort lies not in special rules but in a deadline. The procedure is the same for all employees and can be described in four steps:
- Clarify the social insurance number. Anyone who has been insured in Germany before has an insurance number. For someone new, the pension insurance assigns it via the first registration.
- Record the health insurance fund. The employee chooses their statutory health insurance fund; it is at the same time the collection point for the total social insurance contribution.
- Submit the registration. The company registers the new employee electronically with this health insurance fund (registration reason 10).
- Meet the deadline. Registration takes place with the first following payroll run, but at the latest within six weeks of the start of employment.
This six-week limit follows from Section 28a SGB IV in conjunction with Section 6 of the Data Collection and Transmission Ordinance (DEÜV). It applies word for word to international employees too — no longer and no shorter. The only practical difference is that for a person working in Germany for the first time, the insurance number is newly assigned rather than an existing one being carried over.
Two documents accompany the start: the pension insurance issues the social insurance card bearing the insurance number, and the health insurance fund confirms membership. The company needs both for ongoing payroll. Anyone preparing an internationally recruited worker well clarifies the choice of health insurance fund before the first working day — this prevents delays in the first payroll run.
The genuine exception: posting
There is one constellation in which the place-of-employment principle does not apply — and it is often confused with a normal hire: posting. If someone is sent to Germany only temporarily by a foreign employer and remains employed there, they can stay insured in their country of origin.
For posted employees from the EU this is governed by Regulation (EC) No 883/2004; the proof runs via the A1 certificate. For the regions of origin from which internationally recruited workers frequently come, the situation is also regulated: bilateral social security agreements with a comparable function exist with several Western Balkan states as well as with Tunisia and Morocco. They only take effect, however, when there is an actual posting — not with a regular hire in Germany.
For most companies this is the exception, not the rule: anyone who permanently hires a skilled worker or worker in Germany is not dealing with a posting but with the normal case — full insurance obligation from day one. The A1 question only arises when a foreign employer actually sends staff to Germany on a temporary basis.
Why this makes hiring easier, not harder
The fear of “complicated bureaucracy with foreigners” is unfounded here. Precisely because social insurance law is based on the place of employment and not on origin, you need no second set of rules and no special fund. The process your payroll runs for every hire anyway also carries the international worker.
What remains is a question of sequence, not of law: insurance number, health insurance fund, registration, deadline. Anyone who keeps these four points in mind on the first day has fully completed the social insurance part of an international hire.
The residence and recognition steps that come before are the more demanding part — and the point where structured support makes the difference. To see what these paths look like in concrete terms, read our article on the two paths into nursing from abroad. Why international employment has long been the norm and not a special route is set out in our article International nurses are the norm.
The information in this article is for orientation and does not replace legal or tax advice in individual cases.
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Sources
Federal Ministry of Justice: Social Code Book Four (SGB IV), Section 3 — Scope. URL: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_4/__3.html (accessed 12/08/2026).
Federal Ministry of Justice: Social Code Book Four (SGB IV), Section 28a — Notification obligation. URL: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_4/__28a.html (accessed 12/08/2026).
Federal Ministry of Justice: Data Collection and Transmission Ordinance (DEÜV), Section 6 — Registration. URL: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/deuev/__6.html (accessed 12/08/2026).
Institute for Employment Research (IAB): IAB Immigration Monitor November 2025. 2025. URL: https://doku.iab.de/arbeitsmarktdaten/Zuwanderungsmonitor_2511.pdf (accessed 12/08/2026).
Techniker Krankenkasse: Current social insurance contribution rates 2026. URL: https://www.tk.de/firmenkunden/versicherung/beitraege-faq/beitragssaetze/aktuelle-beitragssaetze-in-der-sozialversicherung-2031554 (accessed 12/08/2026).
AOK Employer Service: Employment of foreign employees — overview. URL: https://www.aok.de/fk/sozialversicherung/beschaeftigung-auslaendischer-arbeitnehmer/beschaeftigung-auslaendischer-arbeitnehmer/ (accessed 12/08/2026).
