Public services and online portals

Key authorities

• Bürgeramt* / Meldebehörde / *Einwohnermeldeamt (the municipality's residents' office): Anmeldung, change of address, Abmeldung when you leave, certificate of residence (Meldebescheinigung). See DE-SEJOUR-TOUS-001.
• Finanzamt (the Land tax office, depending on your address): income tax, the Steuernummer for self-employed people, VAT. See DE-IMPOTS-TOUS-001 and DE-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001.
• Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) (the federal tax office): sends you your Steuer-ID after the Anmeldung. See DE-NIF-TOUS-001.
• Ausländerbehörde (the foreigners' office): residence permits for non-EU nationals, including British citizens. An EU citizen generally has nothing to do there.
• Krankenkasse (health insurance fund, your choice): enrolment and health card. See DE-SANTE-TOUS-001.
• Deutsche Rentenversicherung (pension insurance): gives you your social security number (Versicherungsnummer), generally when your first employer registers you.
• Agentur für Arbeit (employment agency): job search and unemployment benefits.
• Gewerbeamt (often part of the municipality's Ordnungsamt): registration of a commercial activity.
• Kfz-Zulassungsstelle (vehicle registration office, at city or district level): registering your car if you move.
• Standesamt (civil registry): marriages, births, and in some Länder leaving the Church.
• Beitragsservice (ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandradio): the broadcasting licence fee (Rundfunkbeitrag), charged per home. See DE-IMPOTS-TOUS-003.

Recommended order of procedures

1. Find a home and ask your landlord for the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (landlord's confirmation).
2. Do your Anmeldung within two weeks of moving in, by appointment. Put your name on your letterbox.
3. Open a bank account. Anyone legally resident in the EU is entitled to a basic account (Basiskonto), even without a fixed address, as long as they do not already have a payment account in Germany that they can use (§ 31 and § 35 ZKG). The Meldebescheinigung often helps.
4. Choose your Krankenkasse (or a private insurer) before your job starts or as soon as it does.
5. Receive your Steuer-ID by post (nothing to request), then give it to your employer.
6. Social security number: since 2023, your employer generally obtains it directly; keep the document you are sent.
7. Register your home for the Rundfunkbeitrag if nobody is already paying for that home.
8. Depending on your situation: Gewerbeanmeldung and Finanzamt (self-employed), Ausländerbehörde (non-EU), registering your car, enrolling your children at school (DE-ECOLE-TOUS-001).

Online services

• ELSTER (taxes): open to everyone who has a Steuer-ID (registration "for a private individual" with the Steuer-ID and the date of birth). Your identity is verified by letter (activation code sent by post to the address your municipality has on file, activation ID by email) or, with a German identity card, online the same day. After that, you log in with the ElsterSecure app (recommended by ELSTER), a certificate file, a German identity card with its online function, a security key or a signature card. The application is free.
• BundID (federal citizen account): it serves as a gateway to online procedures of the municipalities and the Länder, for example the Gewerbeanmeldung in Berlin. The procedures offered online vary a lot from one municipality to another.
• eID card for EU and EEA citizens (eID-Karte): EU or EEA citizens who are not German can apply for it to identify themselves online just as with the German identity card. It is requested from the authority designated by the Land, depending on your registered address. It is valid for ten years and shows only your name, date and place of birth, without a photo: it does not replace your passport or national identity card. Fee: €37 (§ 2 PAuswGebV, text consulted on 23/10/2026), €15 more if you have it sent to you instead of collecting it at the counter.
• What a newcomer still does in person: the Anmeldung (in principle in person, according to the federal portal; some municipalities offer an online version), the residence permit application for non-EU nationals, often opening a bank account at a physical branch.

Federalism in practice

• Common laws, local application. The Anmeldung follows a federal law, but each municipality sets its own opening hours, appointment system and fees.
• Schools, public holidays, shop opening hours, Kirchensteuer: a matter for the Länder, so the rules change from one Land to another (see DE-ECOLE-TOUS-001, DE-VIE-TOUS-001, DE-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
• Local taxes: Grundsteuer, Gewerbesteuer and taxes on dogs or second homes go to the municipalities, which set their own rates.
• City-states: Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are both a Land and a municipality; services there are often organised by district (Bezirk).

Common pitfalls

• Waiting until you have a job to do the Anmeldung. It is the other way round: the Anmeldung comes first, otherwise no Steuer-ID. Without it, your employer cannot apply your real tax class: if you fail to give it to them through your own fault, they immediately apply class VI, the most expensive; if the delay is not your fault, they may rely on provisional data for three calendar months at most, then class VI applies, with retroactive effect, if you still have provided nothing (§ 39c EStG).
• No name on the letterbox. ELSTER codes, the Steuer-ID and many official letters arrive by post only.
• Relying on another city's website. Fees, forms and online procedures vary: always check your own municipality's website.
• Fake paid websites. The basic procedures (Anmeldung, ELSTER, Steuer-ID) go through the official portals; be wary of sites that charge for them.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: no residence permit; Anmeldung like a German; eID card possible.
• Swiss citizens: Anmeldung compulsory; document certifying the right of residence on request from the Ausländerbehörde (DE-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). No eID card: the law reserves it for nationals of an EU or EEA country (§ 1 eIDKG), and Switzerland is neither.
• British citizens (Scots included): non-EU nationals since Brexit: Anmeldung then Ausländerbehörde for the residence permit. No eID card for EU citizens; to identify yourself online, the electronic residence permit (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel) can carry the same electronic identification function as the German identity card (§ 78 para. 5 AufenthG).