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Moving to Germany: Pre-Arrival Decisions and a 90-Day Checklist
Moving to Germany requires more than Anmeldung. Before departure, lock the immigration or free-movement basis, right to work or study, registration-compatible housing, health-insurance transition, household budget, and any recognition or family-document steps. After moving into a German home, make Anmeldung—registering the address with the local registration authority—the first administrative dependency you actively manage. The official Berlin registration service is a useful concrete example: it says to register within 14 days, bring original identity documents and a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, and keep the resulting registration confirmation. If you live elsewhere, use your municipality's own page for its deadline, booking route, and document list.
Anmeldung records an address. It does not itself create a residence permit, health insurance, a bank account, or permission to work.
The fragile part is usually not the form. It is obtaining usable housing evidence, a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, an appointment, and reliable access to official mail.
Decide whether the move is viable
Do not book the move from a job offer alone. Write a one-page go/no-go file that names each person's status, permitted activity, health-insurance route, gross-to-net budget, temporary and permanent housing plan, registration evidence, school or childcare dependency, and fallback if the start date or housing fails. EU/EEA/Swiss free movement, a third-country employment visa, study, family reunification, and self-employment are different legal files.
The budget should include temporary housing, deposit, first rent, transport, insurance overlap, document fees, and a reserve that is not consumed by the move. Confirm whether a regulated profession needs recognition before work begins and whether a dependant may work. Use these checks to decide whether the move is viable before working through the first 90 days.
Before arrival
Create separate folders for identity, immigration, housing, employment/study, insurance, family documents, and money. Preserve originals and note which foreign documents need certified copies, translation, or legalisation.
Confirm that the accommodation permits registration. Berlin's service expressly says a tenancy agreement does not replace the housing-provider confirmation. If the landlord refuses the confirmation, use the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung problem guide.
Control the local address deadline
Check the municipality's current registration procedure and appointment system. Prepare passports, the housing-provider confirmation, and any family civil-status documents the office requests. Record unsuccessful appointment attempts and use only alternatives documented by that municipality.
Put every resident's name on the mailbox. Save the registration certificate and scan it immediately.
Run health, payroll, bank, and immigration in parallel
Do not wait for every step to finish before starting the next:
- Health insurance: determine the correct public/private or student basis before coverage is needed and give the employer the required confirmation.
- Payroll: provide the employer with identity, address, insurance, bank, and tax information as it becomes available.
- Tax ID: for a first registration after arriving from abroad, Berlin's tax-identification-number service says the registration authority forwards the data to the Federal Central Tax Office, which assigns the number and sends it by post to the registered address. If the letter does not arrive, follow that service's correction route and use the German tax-ID guide.
- Bank account: ask what the bank accepts before Anmeldung; see the pre-Anmeldung banking guide.
- Residence document: track the visa/permit expiry and the local immigration authority's filing route. Use the Germany permit decision guide to confirm eligibility.
Never assume an appointment date after document expiry protects status. Obtain official filing or extension evidence for the actual case.
Keep the branches that do not run through payroll
Anmeldung is the common address dependency, not the whole arrival plan. Add a separate branch when any of these applies:
- Student: confirm enrolment, the insurance basis accepted for the course and residence status, and how funding or work restrictions affect the file. Do not copy the employee payroll sequence.
- Freelancer or self-employed worker: replace the payroll branch with a dated business, tax, professional-licensing, and social-insurance setup plan. Confirm the activity's exact registration requirements separately.
- Broadcasting contribution: check the dwelling's current household position through the official contribution service before registering or paying. Treat this as a housing task, not an individual subscription to buy automatically.
- Vehicle: if bringing a vehicle, run a separate import, registration, insurance, inspection, and driving-licence checklist before relying on it for the move.
- Pet: if an animal is travelling, run the applicable animal-health, identification, vaccination, carrier, and entry checklist before departure.
These branches are prompts to verify the applicable authority and deadline; they are not substitutes for the status-, vehicle-, or animal-specific rules.
Dependency table
| Missing item | Likely impact | Practical fallback |
|---|---|---|
| Registration-capable housing | Anmeldung and mail problems | Negotiate proper evidence or move to compliant housing |
| Tax ID | Payroll withholding/record friction | Give employer status, follow BZSt/local correction route |
| German bank account | Salary or direct-debit friction | Ask whether a compliant existing SEPA account is accepted |
| Insurance confirmation | Employment or permit evidence gap | Resolve insurance status directly with insurer/authority |
| Residence appointment | Status anxiety | Use the authority's documented filing channel and retain proof |
Family and temporary-housing cases
Each person needs their own identity, health, registration, and immigration evidence even when filings are submitted together. Handle schools and family sequencing in a separate family relocation plan.
Temporary housing deserves an exit plan: appointment dates, mail forwarding, deposit proof, and the exact day a new address will be updated across employer, insurer, bank, tax, and immigration records.
The file is stable when
Your name and address match across systems; health coverage has a documented basis and start date; payroll has the correct identifiers; the bank route works; immigration status and next deadline are recorded; and every unresolved item has an institution, reference number, and follow-up date.
Avoid optimizing phone plans or rewards while address, insurance, or status evidence is still fragile.