How to Do the Anmeldung: Registering Your Address in Germany

Once you've found a place and moved in, you'll need to visit a Bürgeramt, or the citizens’ office to do the address registration. Here is the list with locations for Anmeldung Berlin.

Doing Anmeldung gets you:

• First, your Meldebestätigung, or the registration certificate
• Access to government services and benefits
• Your Steueridentifikationsnummer, or the tax ID, so you are taxed correctly
• And arguably the most important one Aufenthaltstitel or Aufenthaltserlaubnis, your residence permit which you must have to live in Germany unless you are from the EU, EEA states and Switzerland

If you are a citizen of the EU, you can do your Anmeldung online here unless it is your first time. If you are from the rest of the world, you need to go to a Bürgeramt offline.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do Anmeldung in person

Bürgeramt appointment

You can do it at any citizens’ office in Berlin after your move-in date. By law, Anmeldung deadline in Germany is 14 days! Here you can find free Bürgeramt appointments for Berlin. If no Termin, or appointment, is available, try searching for it early in the morning.

Do not forget the Vorgangsnummer, or the appointment number, given to you by the system after booking a time slot. You will need it at the Bürgeramt. If you lose it, ask for it at the reception or call 115.

Anmeldung documents checklist:

• Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, or the tenancy confirmation from your landlord
• Anmeldung form, printed and signed
• Your passport
• or; if from any EU country your: Personalausweis, or national ID Card, from any EU country
• Residence permit
• Vehicle registration papers, if you have a vehicle registered at your old address (this costs €17.50 per vehicle)
• Cash or a Girocard to pay
• Your marriage certificate if this is your first Anmeldung, bring the original or a notarized copy, plus a certified translation if it isn't in German or English (both are usually accepted)
• Einverständniserklärung, or the letter of consent from the legal guardians, if you register an underage child’s address
• Your child’s birth certificate if this is your first Anmeldung, bring the original or a notarized copy, plus a certified translation if it isn't in German or English (both are usually accepted)
• A signed Vollmacht, or a document proving the power of attorney, if you send someone else to do your Anmeldung

Visiting Bürgeramt

Arrive a little early. Find the waiting room and look for your appointment number to show up on the screen. When it is called, go to the office number, give your documents to your Beamt*in, or the worker at the Bürgeramt. This will only take a few minutes.

Check the documents for any mistakes. If everything is fine, get your Anmedlung and wait for your tax ID to be mailed to you in the next few weeks. You should also register for Rundfunkbeitrag, or the broadcasting contribution, which every household must pay. Currently it is €18.36 euros per month.

This is your bureaucratic ‘moving to Germany checklist’ from us. As a Studienkolleg, we help international students in Berlin as much as possible as we want you to get the best from your first few weeks in Germany.