Security and visa matters
In-person exchange projects with Teams up! can only be carried out in countries where the participants’ safety is guaranteed. The travel warnings issued by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office (“Auswärtiges Amt”) apply. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the advice of the Robert Koch Institute must also be followed. All participants of the Teams up! projects must comply with the valid regulations for entry and residence for the personal exchanges in the project countries.
Please be aware that it is also possible to conduct visits on a completely virtual basis, in consultation with Engagement Global, if in-person visits cannot take place due to security alerts or the pandemic situation, for instance.
Current security warnings
Since many of the Teams up! partner countries are subject to travel and/or entry restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibilities for implementing in-person visits under the programme are currently limited. If you are planning projects or there are changes in your project, please make sure you first contact your supervisor at the Teams up! team and consult the chcklist of resumption of in-person visits.
Checklist for resumption of in-person visits
Please refer to the pages of the German Foreign Office for worldwide travel and safety information:
Visa
All participants of the Teams up! projects must comply with the valid regulations for entry and residence for the personal exchanges in the project countries. Information on current visa rules can be obtained from the countries’ embassies and consulates.
The Teams up! team can assist with visa applications by supplying a covering letter and a visa support letter from the BMZ to be presented to the embassy, if required. To do so, team needs an up-to-date, full list of participants, which should be sent in digital format to:
Registration in the crisis prevention list ELEFAND
Participants of the group from Germany travelling to the partner countries are obliged to register in the crisis prevention list "Electronic Registration of Germans Abroad (ELEFAND)" before their stay abroad. This is necessary to enable the German embassies to intervene in the event of a crisis and, if necessary, to carry out evacuations.
Participants with German citizenship are kindly requested to enter their name in the crisis prevention list and to make the following entry in the field "other information (optional)": „Teilnahme am BMZ-Programm DAJW Teams up!“
Link to register in the prevention list ELEFAND
Participants without German citizenship cannot register directly, but will be announced to the Federal Foreign Office via Engagement Global:
- Please inform your contact person of the name, email address and travel dates of all participants without German nationality up to six weeks before departure.
- The participants will then receive a registration link from the Federal Foreign Office by e-mail, which will enable them to register directly in the ELEFAND crisis prevention list. Here, too, participants are asked to enter „Teilnahme am BMZ-Programm DAJW Teams up!“ under "Other information (optional)".
This procedure applies to all participants of the German group. Please check independently whether a similar possibility exists in the partner country.