So I have the chance to go and play American Football in Germany for the summer. Can I just...Go? I don't think I need a visa or anything. I will of course do more research but thought I would ask here too!
Well, you live inside the european union, so yeah, you can go. If you plan to stay more than 3 months, or become a permanent citizen there might be some documents you would need to fill out. As for health insurance, I am not sure how you are covered.
Health insurance would be arranged by the team so that's no problem. I would be there for 5 months max so no worries there!
You should get European Health Insurance Card : http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1073.aspx You don't need work permit or visa, pretty much nothing. You only need to do things if you require stuff like German health insurance, German pension system etc. You won't even need to do the tax declaration in Germany, because you will be there for less than 6 months : http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/nov/26/uk-expat-guide-germany
Does the football club have a human resources group? I imagine they must have something like that to manage staff and payroll, and since it's a sports club I'm sure they already have a good idea about what it takes to hire foreigners. Call the team directly and find out what you need to do.
These are better than any travel insurance, which you should still get btw. Show this card to any hospital or doctor and you will get immediate top priority treatment (probably better than in this country) as they know they will be paid.
Thanks for the advice everyone. Yeah the club has staff and they are helping but just thought it would be good to ask here too! So... Looks like I am going playing American Football in Saarland or the summer... Cool eh?
Sorry, but that's simply not true, you will get the same treatment that any national of that country gets and still may have to pay for some treatment upfront. It is not a substitute for travel insurance. edit: That sounded a little harsher than it was intended! But speaking from experience, you need both, and you get the same treatment as everyone else.
That was from experience and from regular sporting trips abroad to mainland Europe. Whenever we produced that card, we were seen almost immediately and thoroughly. The one case that didn't was the one were they didn't have a card with them. As I stated, still get both regardless but show the card first. The relevant hospital know for certain they will be paid and with no delays or haggles from insurance companies.
They overlap each other, one does not trump the other. The card will get you treated fairly quickly - they don't have to call up the insurance company to check if you can have treatment. Without insurance you won't necessarily get certain treatments and if it's bad you probably won't get a medical plane home to get further treatment in your home country. Also in some countries you have to pay for the ambulance whether you have the card or not (insurance pays for this).
I wasn't disputing you, as I said in my original post "which you should still get btw" In every case bar one they were treated immediately and thoroughly. The one that didn't was the one that didn't carry the card and delays occurred. That's over 15 years of multiple yearly trips to tournaments all over Europe.
