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Expatrio Help Center

All of your Germany related questions answered in one place.

How to activate my TK public health insurance?

Dominic Otto
Updated

Wunderbar! You have arrived in Germany!

After you have arrived in Germany you will need to activate your TK public health insurance. Before you are ready to activate your insurance on your User Portal, you need to:

 

  • Register at university
    Once you have successfully enrolled at your German university, they will give you your Certificate of Enrollment (Immatrikulationsbescheinigung). You will need this document to activate your health insurance. Please remember that the Acceptance letter is not an Enrollment certificate; you must register with your university and get your Certificate of Enrollment (Immatrikulationsbescheinigung). 
  • If you do not have the Expatrio Bank Account*, you must provide another SEPA (Single European Payment Area) account to activate your Health Insurance.

The Expatrio Bank Account* we offer will be automatically opened during the blocked account activation process if you are eligible! 

You can activate your health insurance at the same time as your blocked account. If you prefer, you can also activate your insurance later by following the instructions below.

 

Submit your activation request on your Expatrio portal

Once you have your certificate of enrollment (Immatrikulationsbescheinigung) from your university and your bank account details you can submit your health insurance activation request on your Expatrio portal. 

Note: To be eligible for the value package benefit, please make sure that you are activating your TK insurance via your Expatrio portal, you follow the steps below to activate your health insurance. 

 

Step 1-Start the activation

  1. Log in to your Expatrio Portal.

  2. Go to “Health Insurance.”

  3. Click the “Activate” button.

 

Step 2-Continue the process

On the activation page, click NEXT to proceed. 

 

Step 3-Enter your German address

On the next screen, enter your German address.
This is important because TK will send important letters and your insurance card to this address, and they must reach you.

Address Tips:

  • Street names cannot be longer than 23 characters. If needed, shorten “Straße” to “Str.”
  • Please don't use ‘Street’ or ‘Strasse’ - use ‘Str’ or ‘Straße’ instead
  • Put the building number under ‘Street Number’, not after the street name
  • If you have a room number, add it to the 'Additional Information' field, writing ‘Zi.’ in front of it (i.e. Zi. 123)
  • If your name is not showing on your postbox, add the name that is on it to the 'Additional Information' field,.
  • If your name is not on the doorbell, please put the name that's on the doorbell in the 'C/O address' field.
  • If you need to updated your German address after activation, please contact TK directly.

Please confirm your German phone number under the address as well. If you don't have a German number yet, you can check out this page for more information about getting a phone number in Germany. 

After entering your details, click on 'NEXT' to proceed to the next page.

 

Step 4-Add your bank details

Most students automatically get a free Expatrio Bank Account* during their blocked account activation.
If this applies to you, you don’t need to enter any IBAN details.

You will only need to enter your SEPA bank details (IBAN + BIC) if:

  • you do NOT have an Expatrio Blocked Account,

  • you did not agree to open an Expatrio Bank Account, or

  • you simply do not have an Expatrio Bank Account.

Please:

  1. Enter your IBAN and BIC carefully.

  2. Tick the checkbox to confirm the account belongs to you.

  3. Click “NEXT.”

 

Step 5-Upload your Certificate of Enrollment

This is the final step.

You must confirm:

  • your arrival date,

  • your desired insurance start date, and

  • upload your Certificate of Enrollment (Immatrikulationsbescheinigung / Studienbescheinigung) from your German university.

Your document must:

  • NOT be an admission letter (Zulassung), registration document (Anmeldung/Meldebestätigung), or student card.

  • Show your name, matriculation number, current semester (Wintersemester/Sommersemester), and academic semester (Fachsemester).

  • Match the insurance start date you enter in the activation form.

After uploading, click “Activate” to submit your request.

 

After You Submit

We will review your activation request. If anything is unclear, we will contact you.
Once everything is correct, we will forward your information to TK.

The activation process usually takes 2–4 weeks, you will receive letters from TK.

Good news:

You are already covered by TK during the waiting period!
If you need medical care before your card arrives, simply show your TK insurance certificate.
TK will reimburse you once your insurance is fully activated.

When everything is complete, TK will send a confirmation letter to your German address—another reason why the address must be correct.

 

TK Insurance Card

After receiving your 'Welcome Letter', TK will also send you another letter asking you to send them a photo for your health insurance card. Once you have sent this photo, you should expect to receive the insurance card within 10-14 days.

 

* Banking services are provided by our partner UniCredit (Formerly Aion Bank).

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