Information for your arrival to Kiel (Corona)

Registration for travelers

Travelers entering Germany who have been in a high risk area or a virus variant (virus mutation) area in the past ten days must register online before arrival at the Federal Immigration Portal www.einreiseanmeldung.de and carry the proof of registration with them when entering Germany. If it is not possible to complete the arrival registration online, travelers must instead fill out a paper hard copy substitute arrival registration form (in German). Once you have arrived in Germany you are required to fill out the online form. If you arrive by plane in Germany and you are required to quarantine, you are allowed to contiunue to your place of residence and quarantine there.

From August 1, 2021 onwards, all persons aged 12 and over must present a current test certificate when entering Germany, unless they have been vaccinated or have recovered. This applies immediately to entries of all kinds (not only airplane). The proof of testing can be a document in German, English, French, Italian or Spanish language in paper form or digitally, which proves that you are not infected with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The test evidence must refer to a test performed no more than 48 hours (for antigen tests) or 72 hours (PCR) ago. The time of entry is used to calculate these time periods. For virus variant areas, the time period is reduced to 24 hours for antigen tests. Antigen tests for direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from all countries are also accepted. A prerequisite is that the antigen tests used meet the minimum criteria recommended by the WHO for the quality of SARS-CoV-2 Ag rapid tests. 


Further information about digital registration can be found here and general information about entering Germany during the Corona crisis is available on the website of the Federal Ministry of Health.

Quarantine measurements for travelers

From August 1, 2021 onwards a distinction is made between
1. High Risk areas
2. Virus variant (virus mutation) areas

Please check in good time and in any case shortly before your departure for Germany on the website of the Robert Koch Institute, to which group your departure country belongs. There are different rules for entry and quarantine for each of the three groups:

Entering from a high-risk area

If you are entering Germany from a high risk area, you must carry proof of testing, vaccination or convalescence with you and, if you are using a carrier (e.g., airplane), you must present the proof to the carrier for the purpose of transportation. Upon arrival, you are subject to a 10-day quarantine requirement.
The domestic quarantine can be terminated prematurely if proof of recovery, proof of vaccination or negative proof of testing is submitted via the Federal Republic's entry portal at https://www.einreiseanmeldung.de. The quarantine can be terminated in each case from the time of transmission. After prior stay in high risk areas, testing can be done at the earliest five days after entry. Vaccinated and convalescent persons may terminate quarantine from the time proof of vaccination or convalescence is transmitted via the entry protal. If transmission occurs prior to entry (strongly recommended), quarantine does not have to be initiated.

Entry from a virus-variant area (or entry of persons who have stayed in a virus-variant area in the last 10 days before entry):

Entry with previous stay in virus variant areas is only possible with proof of testing. The quarantine obligation is 14 days and an early termination of the quarantine is generally not possible. There is no exception to the quarantine obligation for fully vaccinated persons after previous stay in a virus variant area.
For persons who want to enter Germany from virus variant areas, transportation to Germany as well as entry into the country are generally prohibited. Exceptions are possible for the following groups:

  • Researchers or scientists who have concluded a hosting agreement or a contract for a research project with a research institution or a university (§§ 18d, 18e, 18f immigration law as well as § 19c para.1 immigration law in conjunction with § 5 "BeschV");
  • international students and doctoral candidates who have a (conditional or unconditional) admission letter from the educational institution, including a language course, internship or preparatory course preceding the studies.
     
Basically, it is recommended to enter Germany already vaccinated. However, please note that not all vaccines are approved in Germany. A list of approved vaccines can be found here.
If you have been vaccinated with a vaccine that is not approved, you are considered non-vaccinated and must follow the appropriate quarantine rules!


Quarantine suitable accommodation

Please note that the quarantine cannot be carried out in an apartment with a shared bathroom or kitchen, such as most rooms in the dormitories of the Studentenwerk and the Kiel University guesthouses. You may be able to find a holiday apartment in Kiel that is suitable for quarantine. Here are some possibilities:

 

The following hotels offer quarantine-suitable rooms:

Flämischer Hof
Lüneburg Haus (when making a reservation, please mention that you are a guest of Kiel University's International Center)
Hotel Ostseehalle Kiel by Premiere Classe (The rooms do not have kitchen, catering must be organized)

General information regarding test stations and quarantine accommodation

If you choose to get tested upon arrival, there are test centers at most airports (for example, at  Hamburg Airport) and in Kiel a mobile station at Bootshafen (on the Kaistraße side) or at the test center in Eggerstedtstrasse 1. You can find a map with all the test stations in Schleswig-Holstein here. Click on Karte aktivieren.

Please note that the quarantine cannot be carried out in an apartment with a shared bathroom or kitchen, such as most rooms in the dormitories of the Studentenwerk and the Kiel University guesthouses.

It is not easy to find a quarantine-suitable apartment / room in Kiel for the quarantine period. It is also important to ensure that you have enough food during the quarantine period. It would therefore be advisable to contact people you know in Kiel and to ensure that you are supplied with enough food that is allowed to import into Germany. The International Center offers a care package for students in quarantine living within the city limits of Kiel. More informationen about the care packages can be found  here. Researchers (also PhD students) can ask for quarantine help from their host institute.

More information:

Coronavirus Entry Regulations (in several languages)

Latest measurements for the Corona pandemic in Germany overall in multiple languages (scroll down for englisch version)

More latest information on the Corona pandemic by the Federal Government

For travelers departing Germany: If the airline requires a negative test result to board, you can have a test (PCR or Antigen test) done at your own cost in Kiel at the mobile test station at Bootshafen (on the Kaistraße side) or at Hamburg Airport. You can find a map with all the test stations in Schleswig-Holstein here. Click on Karte aktivieren. Please note that the negative test result must be available at the time of boarding and the test cannot be taken more than 48/72 hours before boarding. The best thing is to ask your airline about the exact rules.

General Information

Information about the bus system (including schedules and fares) is available from the Kiel Transit Company (KVG). Here you can use a computerized route finder function by filling in the Start (from) and Ziel (to) fields. For example, your Start might be Bahnhof and Ziel might be Universität (or the location of your housing). A few days after you enrol at Kiel University you will receive your »Semesterticket«. It will allow you to use public transportation in Kiel free of charge.

  • Information related to the location of faculties on campus and in the city of Kiel can be obtained here.
  • A town portrait of the city of Kiel you can find in this flyer.

Transport connections to Kiel University

...by car

Coming from the South:

Drive northwards as far as Hamburg and then follow the motorway A7 in northward direction. At the motorway junction Bordesholm switch to motorway A215 to Kiel. At the end of A215 please follow the road signs to Kiel University.

Coming from the North:

Drive southwards on the A7 and switch to the motorway A210 to Kiel at the junction Rendsburg. At the end of A215 please follow the road signs to Kiel University.

...arrival by airplane

The closest airport to Kiel is Hamburg Airport.

From Hamburg Airport you can take the airport bus »Kielius«, which makes the trip between Hamburg Airport and Kiel up to 19 times daily. Consider that on your return trip, you may be enrolled as a student, in which you pay less than the regular fee. The bus stops at a clearly marked location directly outside the airport terminal. The schedule and prices  can be found here.

Please note: The Kielius airport bus is currently not running between Kiel and Hamburg Airport due to the Corona pandemic.

There are a couple of airport shuttles running, among these:

Airport Service Kiel

You can also take the S-Bahn (rapid transit) from the Airport to Hamburg Main Station and transfer to a train to Kiel from there. You can buy one ticket for the complete trip.

...arrival by train

Kiel has a major railway station with modern transfer (in German, »Umsteiger«) services. The »Umsteiger« consists of a service center where you can get information from the staff of the Kiel public transit authority, the KVG.
Information about other services such as auto sharing, operated by the firm StattAuto (whose name is a nice play on the identical sound of the German words for ‘city’ and ‘instead’), is also available here.

There is also a bicycle station where Brücke SH operates a monitored bicycle park, repair service and rentals. You can find out more here (in German only).

From the railway station, you can take a bus or taxi to the University, your student dormitory or wherever you’re staying (taxi fare to the University is around € 8 - € 10). Taxis wait outside the north exit (straight ahead), and buses are outside the west exit (to the left).

...arrival by ferry

If you arrive on one of the Baltic Sea ferries (at either Norwegenkai, Schwedenkai or Ostuferhafen), you can take the bus or a taxi to your destination of choice. Taxis are usually waiting there; if you plan to take the bus, determine your route in advance. Information about the bus system (including schedules and fares) is available from the Kiel Transit Company (KVG). Here you can use a computerized route finder function by filling in the Start (from) and Ziel (to) fields.