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Germany · Relocation guide

Germany moving checklist

Use this after identifying the correct German residence route. It separates authority decisions from employer, university, sponsor, landlord and applicant tasks, and it puts address registration before the local administrative steps that commonly depend on it.

Content updated 11 September 2026. Individual source-check dates are listed below.

Gate 1: permission before logistics

Confirm the residence purpose and entry rule before paying for a move. EU and EFTA citizens do not need a visa or residence permit for work or study. Many other nationals must apply at the German mission in their country of residence before travel; privileged-entry rules are nationality and purpose specific.

Do not use a visitor itinerary, job offer or university acceptance as a substitute for the required permission. Read the actual visa wording to establish whether and when employment or study may begin.

Gate 2: route evidence

Workers should finish recognition or comparability checks and any regulated-profession licensing step before relying on a start date. Students should recheck the current proof-of-funds requirement and accepted evidence. Family applicants should verify the sponsor category before relying on a language exemption, livelihood rule or work right.

  • Employer owns accurate contract, role and employment-condition evidence.
  • University owns admission, programme and enrolment decisions.
  • Resident family sponsor owns current status, housing and livelihood evidence where required.
  • Applicant owns identity, civil documents, translations and timely submission.

Build a travel and arrival folder

Carry key originals rather than placing every document in checked baggage. Keep secure digital copies, but do not assume a scan will replace an original requested by an authority.

  • Passport, visa and approval correspondence.
  • Employment contract, admission letter or family sponsor evidence.
  • Birth, marriage and qualification records relevant to the household.
  • Recognition decision or professional licence where applicable.
  • Health-insurance proof and contact details for the employer, university or sponsor.
  • Tenancy agreement, move-in date and landlord contact.

Housing and Anmeldung

Before booking housing, ask whether the landlord will issue a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung. Hotels, hostels and some furnished short lets may not support registration. After moving in, book the local registration authority and take the identity and landlord evidence it specifies.

Federal guidance says residents should register within two weeks of moving in. The registration certificate is often useful for banking and the foreigners-authority file, but registration itself is not permission to stay or work.

Insurance, bank and residence title

Maintain health cover without a gap between entry and the start of regular German insurance. Employees are commonly in statutory insurance, while the applicable system can differ for high earners, self-employed people, students and family members.

Banks set their own onboarding rules; the official relocation guide says a passport, residence permit, registration certificate and sometimes a payslip are generally requested. Apply to the competent foreigners authority before the visa expires, using the local authority’s live process.

Final failure check

Pause if the employer calls a visitor entry sufficient, the accommodation refuses the landlord confirmation, the visa purpose does not match the activity, recognition is unresolved for a regulated profession, insurance starts after arrival, or the foreigners-authority filing is being left until expiry.

Keep dated evidence of submissions and appointments. A pending application can have legal effects, but those effects depend on timing and status; use the authority’s confirmation rather than assumption.

Your moving checklist

Tick off the tasks that apply to you. The timing is a planning order, not a substitute for the deadlines on your permission or an official instruction.

0 of 17 tasks completed

Before you move
On arrival
Your first month
Later and before renewal

Sources and checks

The linked authorities set the rules. VisaAtlas explains how the steps fit together; planning suggestions are not a decision on your immigration status, tax residence or entitlement to services.

Plan your next step