Fact Sheet for international applicants:

Thanks for being interested in doing a Betheljahr International!

The Betheljahr is a voluntary social year (FSJ) or Bundesfreiwilligendienst (BFD) is a year of education for young adults.
For people aged 27 and older, the voluntary social service will be done as Bundesfreiwilligendienst (BFD 27 Plus).

During the Betheljahr you will make your voluntary service in an institution of v. Bodelschwingh Stiftungen Bethel. Most
of the placements are located in Bielefeld, but also in the regions of Lower Saxony or in the Ruhrgebiet area it is possible
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to do a Betheljahr. The Betheljahr for international participants starts on September 1 or August 1 .

You can apply if you:

• are at least 18 years old

• have sufficient knowledge of German (at least level B1 accordingly)
• show independence, responsibility and sociability
• are open to new experiences and challenges
• have an interest in social and diaconal work
• want to be involved in the care and support of people with disabilities

For sending your application

Finally click "absenden"(submit) in order to send your entries in our computer system.

For a complete application, we require the following documents:

• motivation letter in which you represent and explain your interests and experience,
why you want to do a Betheljahr
• CV resume
• copy of the latest school certificates and, if available, a copy of the work certificates and
/ or certificates of volunteering e.g.
• certificate of your German language skills (B1 minimum)
• copy of your passport or your current visa for Germany
• the completed Fragebogen International in the attachment

Please send the application documents via e-mail to bewerben@betheljahr.de.

After getting your complete documents, we will check if we can offer a placement for you. Then we would
like to contact you through an interview via Skype. If that is not possible, we would like to talk to you on the
phone. We will start with the interviews in January.
After the interview, we will look for a suitable placement for you. You may speak on the phone or skype
directly with the placement. We will send a detailed description of your placement. If you can imagine to
do your voluntary work in this location for one year, we will prepare an agreement. If you have already been
in Germany as an au pair or language student, we will invite you for a personal interview in possible and you
could do for a probation day in the placement.

With the agreement and the invitation letter, you can apply for your visa.
In order for the visa process within time, a deadline applies to applicants who need a visa to travel to
Germany. The deadline will be the 31st of March.

During your Betheljahr you will get an amount of about 683 € per month (pocket money and an allowance
for housing and meals). Contributions for health insurance, accident and pension insurance are paid by the
placement. We provide a room that can be rented for an amount of 180-250 € per month.

Further information about Betheljahr www.betheljahr.de

Information about the v. Bodelschwingh Stiftungen Bethel www.bethel.de