Dear students,

we look forward to welcoming you at DESY this summer!
Here is some information on matters which are imminent now. These concern accommodation and administration and require some actions on your part. Please read the information in this page carefully and take the requested actions promptly. Further information may also be requested from you closer to the start of the programme, so please check your emails regularly for communications from the Summer Student team to avoid unnecessary delays.

The DESY Summer Student Programme 2025 starts July 22 (at ~10am) and ends September 11 (at ~4pm). We suggest that you arrive at DESY on July 21 and leave on September 12. 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.

Administrative procedures:

• Payment: You will receive a salary of approximately 850€ per month from DESY. Further details on the payment schedule etc can be found in documentation from the personnel department (version for international students in English, and for German/Germany-resident students in German).

  • All non-German students have to apply for a Tax ID using this form (in German only, detailed instructions on how to fill it out are given here). Please send the filled form to summie-org@desy.de. For German students, no action is necessary as you already have a Tax ID.

  • Payment via bank transfer is currently only possible if you have a bank account with an IBAN number. If your account does not have an IBAN (i.e. it is from outside Europe or certain other countries using this system) then an alternative payment methods is necessary (via cheque to be cashed at a local bank). NB Since it is often possible to open an online-only bank account relatively straightforwardly, doing so could be considered as a possibility in order to avoid the use of the alternative payment method.

• Questionnaire: Please fill in the questionnaire (non-German students should fill the English questionnaire, German/Germany-resident students the "Fragebogen") with the requested information and send it, along with any required attachments, to summie-org@desy.de by the 30th April.

• Insurance: German law requires that you must have medical insurance for your stay at DESY and you will be asked to provide evidence of this, which should be sent together with the questionnaire/Fragebogen. For students coming from abroad, information is provided by the DESY International Office here: medical insurance

  • Private liability insurance is not obligatory but in general strongly recommended to have (and is generally inexpensive). The International Office provides the following information: private liability insurance.

• Certificate of Enrolment:

  • For German and EU/EFTA students: Please fill in the certificate of enrolment for EU/EFTA students form demonstrating enrolment at your university and send it back as an email attachment along with the questionnaire/Fragebogen, and bring the original with you in July. The certificate has to cover the full period of the DESY Summer Student Programme.

  • For non EU/EFTA students: You already uploaded certificates in the online application to our programme - so nothing to be done on your end. Please note that we (DESY) use these certificates for requesting and obtaining a work permit for you from the so-called ZAV office.

• Visa requirements : This is relevant only for non EU/EFTA students. Once you have accepted your place, an application for a work permit will be made on your behalf, using the documents you have already provided. Only once the work permit has been received (which usually takes several weeks) will you be sent an official invitation allowing an application for a visa be made, so please be patient and wait for this invitation before applying. For the procedure of obtaining the necessary visa, please refer to the information from the DESY 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 charge. Please make a reservation as indicated in the Hostel information, according to your place of work:

• Hostel information for Hamburg
  • Contact: vgsbuero@desy.de
• Hostel Information for Zeuthen 
  • Contact: hostel-zeuthen@desy.de

The deadline for reservations is July 1st, 2025.

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:

Travel costs will be reimbursed according to the scheme outlined in the Frequently Asked Questions. A short summary follows:

• All students will receive a lump sum of 125€ towards their travel costs. No application is required for this reimbursement, it will be provided automatically. For total travel costs below 300€, no further reimbursement will be provided.
• For total travel costs (outwards and return) above 300€, 80% of the costs above 300€ can be reimbursed, on application. These costs must be proven with receipts or equivalent, and must be for the most economical connections (i.e. economy-class flights, 2nd class train tickets, etc) otherwise they cannot be reimbursed. A form to be filled out and submitted together with travel receipts will be provided after arrival at DESY.
• Reimbursement can only be made after your arrival at DESY, except in exceptional circumstances.

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 crossing 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 is offered for 58 € 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 that you cancel the 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 22nd July as a start date and cancel the subscription before 10 of August. (Ticket would be valid until the end of August and you would only have to find a different solution for the remaining time in September). This way you have to pay ~1.5 months (instead of 2.5 if you cancel it at a later time).

It is available as an electronic ticket for your mobile phone through the HVV switch app (you should not order the chip card version). Payment options include direct bank withdrawal, direct debit/pre-authorised payment in case you have a European IBAN account, credit or debit cards, or Paypal. All further information can be found here.

Alternative options for public transport within Hamburg are single trip tickets (3.90 €), 9am daily tickets (valid for any number of trips during the day between 9am and 6am the next day: 7.80 €), 9am group tickets (valid for up to 5 persons: 15.60€) or weekly tickets (38 € per week - NB that for any time longer than a week a Deutschlandticket becomes more economical).
Please be aware that it is no longer possible to buy tickets on the buses or trains in Hamburg. You have to use either one of the ticket vending machines (at all S/U-bahn stations and larger bus stops) or an app like the HVV app (Android, iOS). It is anyway recommended to dowload the app if you will make use of public transport, as it provides connection options and real-time schedule information.