Students can apply for parental leave within the framework of the legal requirements of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz).
The request for parental leave must be submitted at least four weeks before the date on which parental leave is to commence.
There is no particular form that needs to be filled out for the request for parental leave. That means you can also submit the request by email to the Examinations Office.
The request must be accompanied by the child’s birth certificate, confirmation that the child lives in the same household as you and, if necessary, other evidence if you are not listed as a parent on the child’s birth certificate.
In the request, you must state the period for which you are requesting parental leave. You must also make a declaration that you are looking after and bringing up the child yourself.
Parental leave extends study deadlines if you have applied for semester leave of absence during the semesters of parental leave.
However, parental leave does not extend the time for working on your final thesis. If parental leave is during the time you are working on your thesis, you can request to withdraw from the thesis due to parental leave. After parental leave, you can then start a thesis with a new topic.
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