Can I work part-time during my Master's in Germany?

Yes. With a student residence permit (§ 16b AufenthG) you can work during your Master's. For non-EU students the legal limit is not a weekly number of hours but 140 working days per year (Arbeitstagekonto).

#How the 140 days are counted

The 140-day account has applied since 1 March 2024 (BGBl. 2023 I No. 217, Art. 2 no. 6 and Art. 12 (1); checked 15.10.2026). Half days already existed under the previous rule (120 full or 240 half days); since then the law itself defines a half day as a day with up to 4 hours and adds the weekly 2.5-day option (Bundestag document 20/6500, p. 78).

• A day with up to 4 hours of work counts as half a day.
• During the lecture period, a week with up to 20 hours can count as 2.5 working days; outside the lecture period, each week can count as 2.5 working days. Whichever calculation is more favourable applies, week by week.
• Student assistant jobs at the university (HiWi, studentische Nebentätigkeit) and mandatory internships (Pflichtpraktikum) do not count; voluntary internships usually do.
• If you have several jobs, they all count towards the same account.

#Common options

• Werkstudent: if you regularly work no more than 20 hours a week during the lecture period (across all employers), you are exempt from health, long-term care and unemployment insurance in that job and only pay the employee share of pension insurance (9.3 percent in 2026). The 20 hours are a social-insurance rule, not a residence-law limit.
• HiWi: student assistant job at a university or institute; does not count towards the 140 days. Pay depends on the federal state and university.
• Minijob: up to 603 € per month in 2026. There is no statutory weekly-hours cap; at the 13.90 € minimum wage this equals roughly 10 hours a week (calculation only).

#Thesis and graduation

• Writing your Master's thesis with a company may be possible; it depends on your programme's Prüfungsordnung.
• After successfully completing your studies in Germany, you can get a residence permit for up to 18 months to look for a job, provided your livelihood is secured (§ 20 AufenthG).

More: HiWi vs Werkstudent · Student work rules and the 140 days