Vol­un­tary Ser­vice in Germany

A vol­un­tary ser­vice allows you to sup­port oth­ers while gain­ing your first work expe­ri­ence. Here’s what you need to know: the ben­e­fits, the dif­fer­ent types of ser­vice avail­able, what kind of tasks you’ll do, the pay­ment you might receive, and how to apply.

Do Some­thing Mean­ing­ful for Others

Whether it’s with the fire depart­ment, sports clubs, or envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion orga­ni­za­tions – many areas of soci­ety only func­tion thanks to peo­ple vol­un­teer­ing their time.

If you want to make good use of the time before start­ing a train­ing pro­gram or uni­ver­si­ty, you can do a vol­un­tary ser­vice in var­i­ous insti­tu­tions, projects, or organizations.

You’ll sup­port pro­fes­sion­als in their dai­ly tasks. For exam­ple, vol­un­teers in elder­ly care may help old­er peo­ple with eat­ing, drink­ing, or per­son­al hygiene.

A super­vi­sor will help you get start­ed and sup­port you if you run into any issues. Dur­ing sem­i­nar days, you’ll meet oth­er young peo­ple and dis­cuss top­ics like cul­ture, pol­i­tics, and society.

Types of Vol­un­tary Service

Vol­un­tary Social Year and Vol­un­tary Eco­log­i­cal Year

As part of the Vol­un­tary Social Year (FSJ) or the Vol­un­tary Eco­log­i­cal Year (FÖJ), you can sup­port oth­ers in many areas, such as:
▪ Vol­un­teer­ing in sports clubs
▪ Work­ing with chil­dren and young peo­ple
▪ Sup­port­ing health care or elder­ly care services

Require­ments
▪ Be under 27 years old
▪ Have com­plet­ed your full-time com­pul­so­ry edu­ca­tion
(This usu­al­ly means 9 or 10 years of school, depend­ing on the state)

Dura­tion
An FSJ or FÖJ gen­er­al­ly lasts 12 months, with a min­i­mum of 6 and a max­i­mum of 18 months full-time. In excep­tion­al cas­es, the FSJ and FÖJ can be extend­ed to up to 24 months.

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion on these vol­un­tary ser­vices can be found at the ↗ Fed­er­al Min­istry for Fam­i­ly Affairs, Senior Cit­i­zens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ)

Vol­un­tary ser­vice abroad

You can also do the FSJ and FÖJ in oth­er coun­tries. The BMFSFJ has ↗ com­piled address­es of orga­ni­za­tions and asso­ci­a­tions that offer an FSJ or FÖJ abroad

Oth­er vol­un­tary ser­vices that you can only do abroad are:
↗ Kul­tur­weit
↗ Weltwärts
↗ Euro­pean Vol­un­tary Ser­vice (EVS)
↗ Euro­pean Sol­i­dar­i­ty Corps
↗ Inter­na­tion­al Youth Vol­un­teer Ser­vice (IJFD)
↗ Peace ser­vices and church ser­vices abroad

If you only want to do part of your vol­un­tary ser­vice abroad, the com­bined youth vol­un­tary ser­vice may be an option for you. You do part of it abroad and the oth­er part in Germany.

Fed­er­al Vol­un­tary Service 

If you would like to vol­un­teer for oth­ers, you can also com­plete a BFD. This involves you work­ing in sim­i­lar areas to the FSJ or FÖJ. How­ev­er, your age does not play a role in the BFD and you can do the ser­vice sev­er­al times.

Require­ments
You must have com­plet­ed your com­pul­so­ry school­ing for the BFD, oth­er­wise there is no age lim­it.

Dura­tion
As a rule, the BFD lasts 12 months. You can also short­en it to 6 months or extend it to 18 months — a max­i­mum of 24 months is pos­si­ble.

You can find more infor­ma­tion on the ↗ Fed­er­al Vol­un­teer Ser­vice website.

Vol­un­tary Mil­i­tary Service 

If you are con­sid­er­ing a career in the Bun­deswehr, you can also do vol­un­tary ser­vice there. This will allow you to get to know the work of the armed forces.

Pre­req­ui­sites
If you are inter­est­ed in vol­un­tary mil­i­tary ser­vice, you must be a Ger­man cit­i­zen. You must also have com­plet­ed com­pul­so­ry school­ing and be at least 17 years old. If you are under the age of major­i­ty dur­ing the appli­ca­tion phase, you will need your par­ents’ con­sent.

Dura­tion
The FWD lasts up to 23 months. The first 6 months count as a pro­ba­tion­ary peri­od, regard­less of the total dura­tion. From 12 months onwards, you will be expect­ed to take part in assign­ments abroad and be pre­pared to be trans­ferred through­out Ger­many.

Pay­ment
You will receive mil­i­tary pay for this vol­un­tary ser­vice. There is also a mil­i­tary ser­vice sup­ple­ment and a dis­charge allowance. Social secu­ri­ty con­tri­bu­tions are cov­ered.

You can find more infor­ma­tion on how to apply on the ↗ Bun­deswehr’s page on vol­un­tary mil­i­tary service.

Pay­ment and Benefits

In many pro­grams (FSJ, FÖJ, BFD), you’ll receive:

  • A vol­un­teer ID card for dis­counts (e.g. on pub­lic transport)
  • Pock­et mon­ey – for exam­ple, up to €402 per month in the BFD
  • Pos­si­ble addi­tion­al ben­e­fits such as: 
    • Free accom­mo­da­tion or meals
    • Work clothes
  • Social insur­ance con­tri­bu­tions (health, unem­ploy­ment, pen­sion, etc.) are covered
  • Your par­ents still receive child ben­e­fits while you’re in service

📝 How to Apply

Check direct­ly with the orga­ni­za­tion or pro­gram provider to find out what doc­u­ments are required. Usu­al­ly, you’ll need:

  • A CV (résumé)
  • A moti­va­tion let­ter, explain­ing why you want to join the program

📅 Dead­lines vary depend­ing on the pro­gram. It’s best to apply a year in advance — plan ahead!

This page was last updated: 2025-07-16