Eligible or not for Kindergeld

Hi @gch86  ,

welcome to our forum and thank you for your question. First of all, congratulations on being accepted for a master program and offered a mini-job!

Yes, you are eligible to receive child benefit („Kindergeld“). In your case, you being a EU citizen grants you the right. You can read more about it including the general requirements here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/child-benefit

Beside the child benefit, there are other types of benefits for parents in Germany.

The additional child benefit or child allowance („Kinderzuschlag“) is for families with low income. It is granted for 6 months and you can always reapply after this time period. You can read more on this topic here to find out if you might be eligible for it: https://handbookgermany.de/en/child-benefit#faq_1365

https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/en/child-allowance

This is a „KiZ-Lotse“ of federal employment agency. For now it is only in German. If you don’t speak German, you can still try using it with a translator to find out if you might be eligible for child allowance: https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/familie-und-kinder/kinderzuschlag-verstehen/kiz-lotse

In case you receive child allowance, you might also be receive additional benefits for education and social involvement („Bildungs- und Teilhabepaket“). This can provide financial support so that children can participate in school and leisure activities. The receivers of child allowance are also eligible for educational package. More infos can be found here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/educational-package

Lastly, in case your child is younger than 2 years and 8 months old, parental allowance („Eltergeld“) might be an additional option for you. You can find out more about it here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/parental-benefits

This is a lot of information for once. Take your time and come back to us anytime if you have more questions. I hope this was helpful!

Best wishes

Seoyoung

Hi @gch86  ,

I suppose you're referring to the German income tax law (§ 62 Abs. 1a S. 1 EStG), according to which EU-citizens are hindered from receiving Kindergeld for the first 3 months after moving to Germany, unless they have income in Germany during this period. However, the European court (EuGH) ruled in 2022 that this law is not in line with the European law of equal treatment. Here you can read about it, it's only available in German (if you don't understand, you could use a browser translator). https://www.eu-gleichbehandlungsstelle.de/eugs-de/experten/newsletter/dreimonatige-sperrfrist-fuer-erwerbslose-eu-staatsangehoerige-fuer-rechtswidrig-erklaert-2124744

In their report, The Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Equal Treatment Office for EU Workers also confirms that the German income tax law cannot be applied in this case. (Section 3.2.1.) https://www.bagfw.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Veroeffentlichungen/Publikationen/Migration/Familienleistungen_bf.pdf The only requirement for a EU citizen is that they have residency (Wohnsitz) in Germany.

If you want to double check before applying, you can try asking Familienkasse in your area: https://familienportal.de/familienportal/meta/languages/family-benefits Under "Find Local Services", you can choose Kindergeld as topic and put in your postal code. I'm not sure if employees on Hotline speak English. Should they still reject your application, that will be unjustified under the European law. I doubt Familienkasse will reject since the ruling, but as we are an informational site, we cannot give you legal advice. If you need more counselling on this matter, please reach out to a migration counselling center. You can search one using this navigation: https://bamf-navi.bamf.de/de/Themen/Migrationsberatung/

I hope this was helpful for you and let us know if you have more questions.

Best wishes

Seoyoung