• If you are a student with citizenship in a member state of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland you may take up any type of work in Germany under the same conditions as German students.
• If you are a student with citizenship in the EU/EEA countries/Switzerland and have a part-time student job or a paid internship in Germany, you must take out health insurance in Germany. Your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is then no longer valid. There are rare exceptions to this – more information is available from the health insurance company.

The following regulations apply as of March 1, 2024 

International students with a residence permit under Section 16b of the Residence Act generally come from countries that do not belong to the European Economic Area. They are allowed to work in Germany for 140 full or 280 half working days per year. This is noted in the (supplementary sheet to your) residence title. Alternatively, employment of up to 20 hours per week is also permitted. Additional approval from the foreigners’ registration office is not necessary in these two cases. More precisely:

• Only the working days that are actually worked are counted. This means holidays, public holidays and sick days are not counted.
• Half working days are working days with up to 4 working hours.
• These are calculated for each calendar year. For example: if the employment contract starts on 1 July, the complete 140 full/280 half working days can be worked until the end of this calendar year on 31 December.
• Days on which a voluntary internship is undertaken also count towards these 140 full or 280 half working days. However, compulsory internships as part of a degree programme do not count.
• If you wish to work more than the permitted number of days you need prior and written approval from the foreigners’ registration office.

International students with a residence permit under Section 16b of the Residence Act are only allowed to work as fee-based workers or self-employed persons with the permission of the foreigners’ registration office. As a rule, self-employed persons are those who invoice the employer for work performed (fee-based). During a preparatory language course/internship placement or a preparatory college course, as of March 1, 2024, the students with a residence permit under Section 16b of the Residence Act may work in the same way as during their studies.

Source and further information: Deutsches Studierendenwerk

Leaflet "Job regulations for international students in Germany"