Hey everyone, backstory:

I moved to Germany in February 2022 and started doing a Integrationskurs. I completely ignored the fact that since I am in Germany, I need a German health insurance, as I thought I am covered since I have an EU Health card with regular health insurance that covers all EU countries. I am struggling financially, and I am looking to get a health insurance now, the problem is I’ll have to pay lots of back payments when I subscribe to public insurance.

What happened:

So, I got sick, and my German course provider requires an AU (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung), and I had no clue if I could get one or not with my EU health insurance. Looking for answers online, it turns out that I can’t, but I found a solution. I found an online site (not going to link it idk if I can) but apparently it’s legit and all. As far as I know all I need to do was to talk to a Doctor so he could give me the AU. We video called and I explained the symptoms and he sent me the AU that I then proceeded to send to my Integrationskurs provider. The problem is the provider (I’m not sure if I can say the name) said the following:

“Sehr geehrter Herr xxxxx,

vielen Dank für die Übersendung der gefälschten Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung.

Da wir Betrügereien bei uns nicht zulassen, kündigen wir Ihnen die Kursteilnahme mit sofortiger Wirkung und sprechen Ihnen ein Hausverbot aus.

Ihre Berechtigung erhalten Sie per Post.

Von einer Strafanzeige sehen wir ab, das Bundesamt ist jedoch informiert.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen/ Best Regards”.

My girlfriend and I have contacted the school and now we are waiting for a reply to come to the bottom of this. Is there anything else I can do?

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Edit: Me (my gf, she speaks German) spoke to the provider, and apparently there is nothing they can do about it, they understand our situation, but I am still not allowed to come back to the classes and will have to find a different school. They had to inform the BAMF because that’s the procedure they have to do (informing them when someone leaves the course) but they won’t report us, they are sorry for us too but it’s their rules to kick me out.

Edit 2: [dransay.com](https://dransay.com) is the name of the AU website. They are apparently well known.

23 comments

  1. i guess your AU was not legit but a scam and your school noticed that.

    they said they won’t themselves report you to the police for doing sth illegal, but they informed the authorities – i guess in your case the ausländerbehörde or sth.

  2. First of all, no you are not going to jail. Which federal office are they reffering to when saying it has been informed, the BAMF?

  3. You’re definitely not going to jail.

    Contact the providers of the website and tell them that your school said their AU is fake. Tell your school that you received the AU online, link the website for them. They can ask the website weither the AU was made by them. I’m sure it’ll come out as a misunderstanding. But even if not, you’re not a criminal.

    Not having a health insurance is also not a crime but it can cost some money for the last months. You should focus on improving your financial situation.

  4. What’s the point of kicking someone out of an integration course and making it harder for them to integrate? What are you supposed to do now? Not integrate?

  5. > but apparently it’s legit and all

    Apparently not.

    > As far as I know all I need to do was to talk to a Doctor so he could give me the AU

    It is generally possible to do a remote examination/consultation and get a sick note. Terms and conditions apply.

    > Von einer Strafanzeige sehen wir ab, das Bundesamt ist jedoch informiert.

    They are not reporting you to the police, but to the ministry (I guess BAMF). Even if they had called the police, a conviction would not get you jail time and there would be a good chance to beat the case in court, if your statements here are correct.

    > Is there anything else I can do?

    You should start collecting some info on that video service. When you get mail from the BAMF, you should be able to make your case why you believed what you did was legit.
    Also, get health insurance.

  7. If you have EU health insurance that means you have active health insurance in another country? If so, tell the insurer of your choosing and send them your insurance papers. I did the same with TK and they cleared all my back payments.

  9. Normally they should tell the police and the police should investigate it. If you lied and you knew it was false, you will be tried and depending on circumstances can go to jail. If you didn’t know it was false and were also scammed, no one will do anything to you so you shouldn’t worry at all.

    It all depends on wether you were honest or not.

  10. dude why are you fucking around and go to some online doctors. you are a special kind of person no joke, every1 goes there in person, but no you thought „ill just book this and get sum paper which is excusing me“

    now have fun, it can get so bad that you will be departed from germany depends on the guy in the office who is processing your case. you fucking neek

  11. Regarding the regulation online AU is valid for 7 days, but only if you visited this physician before in person (known patient for the doctor).

  12. This whole thing just stinks. Something is missing, and if you provide neither the name of the course provider nor the name of the online doctor thingy, I doubt there’s much useful info you’ll get here.

    I don’t think you’re going to jail, but falsyfying documents is a serious offense and this is something the BAMF will likely be interested in knowing more about it. There needs to be some kind of solid evidence though and if there is a site online claiming they are a legit business that can give AUs and they are a scam that you just happened to fall for, there’s fuck all they can blame you for, so just booting you from the course like that and also accusing you of “Betrügereien” is either well-founded, or they’re kinda unhinged and begging for some legal difficulties of their own.

  15. Come on man, what do they mean with “gefälscht”…

    They could have said “hey man this doctor is not legit, we only accept this and this kind of certificates from this and this institutions or doctors and yours does not fulfill these requirements because this and this”.

    Jumping straight into conclusions without any real evidence or chance to explain yourself is so uncalled for. Notifying the authorities is just so over the top. I am furious with this kind of behaviour by some institutions.

    This is straight out xenophobia hidden behind dodgy arguments. Something similar happened to me in the past – I was visiting my girlfriend pretty often in her student dorm on a weekly basis, we were in a long distance relationship. I had my own apartment in another city where I actually lived and was paying rent. Heir dorm did not have any specific rules that visits are not permitted. One early morning around 6 o’clock someone is knocking on the door like there’s a fire. It’s the freaking Hausmeister shouting we are getting evicted cause my girlfriend is lodging me on a permanent basis (beherbergen). This was obviously not true and after we consulted unofficially an attorney – he confirmed that this would be a problem only if I had stayed for at least 3 weeks straight. Which was obviously not the case.

    I’m finally coming to the point – we tried to be super cooperative and explain the situation by even submitting my rent contract, excerpts of payments for rent and so on. But they would never listened, they just laughed at us and said “don’t worry we know what you are doing, you won’t fool us”.

    In fact what the Hausmeister was yelling was not true – she did not get evicted, she got a warning and I was basically banned of visiting her. We immediately found another apartment for her and resigned the room.

    But this is exactly the same kind of behaviour, no matter what your situation is, let’s just jump into wild conclusions and say this evil foreigner is a criminal!

  16. >I thought I am covered since I have an EU Health card with regular health insurance that covers all EU countries.

    you are.

  19. Instead of simply going to a doctor OP looked for “alternative” ways. I don’t thinks this seems like a legit mistake and if so, unfortunately it’s their responsibility if the did do something illegal unknowingly. Like the whole thing seems very suspicious and they went and did it anyways. OP is not going to jail but the government doesn’t have to keep paying a fortune to someone who falsifies (willingly or not) such a thing. It’s not fair

  20. Thank you everybody for your help and support, I am still unsure if what I did was legal or not. I have another question to add. Should I get Legal Insurance? just in case? what about feather insurance for immigrants?

  21. I assume on the AU the doctor that is listed doesn‘t have an address in your city and that‘s why they are freaking out. Calmly inform them that you spoke to a doctor via video chat. There is nothing illegal about that, but I assume the people in charge are backwards boomers and don‘t trust spooky online stuff. Honestly I wouldn’t act like you may have made a mistake because you didn’t. They better re-register you.

  22. Well, play stupid games – win stupid prizes. There is a lesson in there for you and your GF as well. Never try to look for an easy way, because most of the time something illegal is going on. The site looks sketchy, the Impressum states it’s an Ltd. in Malta. So many red flags here. You should have gone to a GP and should have explained your situation instead of looking for some other way.

    But enough about shoulda, woulda, coulda – the school didn’t report you to the police or the Staatsanwaltschaft. Which is good, and apparently they didn’t give the BAMF a reason why you left. But in your case I would talk to a lawyer about this.

    And to all the winers on here that scream xenophobia – nope, that’s not xenophobia. OP was stupid enough to try and cheat the system. Not knowing the laws, doesn’t protect you from punishment.

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