Dear students,

we look forward to welcoming you at DESY this summer!
Here is some information on matters which are imminent now. These require some action and concern accommodation and administration. Please read the following carefully and take the requested actions.

The DESY summer student programme 2024 starts July 16 (at ~10am) and ends September 5 (at ~4pm). We suggest that you arrive at DESY on July 15 and leave on September 6. Please arrange your DESY hostel (or other) accommodation booking accordingly. Please take note that one can enter or exit the DESY site 24 hours a day.

Adminstrative Procedures:

• Payment: DESY will pay 850 Euros per month*. More details on e.g. the payment schedule can be found in the information sheet for students studying in Germany (this sheet) and abroad (this sheet) . Account details for the payments should be provided in the questionnaire below. Please take note: all non-german students have to apply for obtaining a Tax-ID, using this form and the instructions on how to fill it out. Please send the filled form to summie-org@desy.de.

• Questionnaire: Please fill the questionnaire and send it back as an email attachment to summie-org@desy.de and bring the original with you to DESY in July. Students studying in Germany should use the Fragebogen, students studying abroad use the questionnaire.

• Insurance: Please take note: German law demands that you must have medical insurance for your stay at DESY. For students coming from abroad, information is collected by the International Office here: medical insurance, and private liability insurance. Regarding the liability insurance: It is not obligatory but in general strongly recommended to have one.

• Certificate of enrollment: 
  For German and EU/EFTA students: Please fill in the certificate of enrollment for EU/EFTA students and send it back as an email attachment to summie-org@desy.de and bring the original with you in July. The certificate has to cover the full period of the summer student programme.
  For non EU/EFTA students: You already uploaded certificates in the online application to our programme - so nothing to be done there from your side. Please take note that we (DESY) use these certificates for requesting and obtaining a work permit for you from the so-called ZAV office. Only after we obtain the work permit (which usually takes several weeks) DESY will send you an official invitation which in turn allows you to request your visa, so please be patient.

• Visa requirements : This is relevant only for non EU/EFTA students. For the procedure of obtaining the necessary visa (that can only be started after the step described above) please refer to the information from the International Office in the visa item of the Frequently Asked Questions

Accommodation at DESY:

• All summer students will be provided with a room in the DESY hostel free of cost. Please make a reservation as indicated in the Hostel information, according to your place of work:
  • Hostel information for Hamburg
  • Hostel Information for Zeuthen
  • The deadline for reservations is June 15th, 2024.
• Alternatively, you are free to organise your own accommodation for the relevant period. Any costs incurred for alternative accommodation will be at your own expense.

For all questions regarding DESY hostel accomodation, please refer them directly to the hostel service. For other questions, please contact summie-org@desy.de.

Travel Cost Reimbursement:

DESY will reimburse at least a part of your travel costs. Details will be finalised in April; for information on the policy for last year see the travel cost reimbursement document, but note that this is subject to change. Please take note that the reimbursement rates mentioned in the document apply for the total sum of the costs for the whole journey, comprising outward and return trips. The reimbursement will be recieved within a few days of your arrival at DESY.

There is an extensive network of public transport in the city of Hamburg and surrounding area (S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, buses, and also ferries on the Elbe river). If you plan to use it regularly, the easiest way is to get a "Deutschlandticket" which allows you not only unlimited use of the public transport in Hamburg, but also in all of Germany. It includes the public transport in other cities and towns, as well as regional trains (all trains except InterCity [IC], EuroCity [EC], or InterCity-Express [ICE]), which means you can also use it for a weekend trip for instance. And all that for 49€ per month.

Unfortunately, it is only available as a subscription. While one can choose the start date in a flexible manner (one can book it for a fraction of a calender month at the start), all following months are always whole calender months. So be careful you cancel that subscription in time (has to be done until the 10th of the month, i.e., ~3 weeks before the end of the month). One option would be to have a start date of the 15th of July and cancel the subscription until the 10th of August (ticket would be valid until the end of August and you would only be the 1st week of September without a ticket). That way you have to pay ~1.5 months (instead of 2.5 when you cancel it later).

It is available as an electronic ticket for your mobile phone (you should not order the chip card version) through the hvv switch app. Payment options include direct bank withdrawal (direct debit / pre-authorized debit / pre-authorized payment, however you want to call it; I guess one needs a European IBAN account for that), credit or debit cards, or Paypal. All further information can be found here.

Alternatives for public transport within Hamburg are single trip tickets (3.80€), 9am day tickets (valid for any number of trips the whole day between 9am and 6am the next day, 7.50€), 9am group tickets (valid for up to 5 persons, 14.10€), or week tickets (29€ per week). Please be aware that it is not possible to buy tickets in the buses/trains in Hamburg. You have to use either one of the few ticket vending machines (the Airport has some for sure) or an app like the HVV app (Android, iOS).