How Anmeldung, Germany's address registration, works

Anyone who moves into a home in Germany has to register with the local registration office (Meldebehörde) within two weeks of moving in. This registration, the Anmeldung, is required by the Federal Registration Act (Bundesmeldegesetz) and applies in principle to everyone who moves into a home, whatever their nationality; members of foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts, for example, are exempt under certain conditions. Registering late, incorrectly or not at all is an administrative offence that can be fined up to €1,000.

A lot follows from the Anmeldung: the registration data are passed on to the tax authorities, and the registration office can issue a certificate showing your registered address. Here is what the law says.

Who has to register, and when

The basic rule is simple: whoever moves into a home must register within two weeks of moving in. Whoever moves out and does not take up a new home in Germany – for example because they are moving abroad – must deregister (Abmeldung) within two weeks of moving out. Deregistration is possible at the earliest one week before the move.

For children under 16, the duty lies with the person into whose home they move. Babies born in Germany only need to be registered if they are not taken into the home of their parents or mother, because register offices pass births on to the registration authorities.

There are exceptions for short stays. Someone already registered in Germany who moves into a home for a stay of no more than six months need not register for it; if they are still there after six months, they must register within two weeks. For people who normally live abroad and are not registered in Germany, the duty arises after three months. A visitor from abroad staying in a flat for a few weeks therefore does not have to register.

Main home and second home

If you have more than one home in Germany, one of them is your main home (Hauptwohnung): the one you mainly use. Every other home is a secondary home (Nebenwohnung). For a married couple or registered partners who do not live permanently apart, the main home is the one the family mainly uses. In case of doubt, it is where the centre of your life is. Each time you register or deregister you must say which other homes you have and which is your main one, and you must report any change of main home within two weeks.

What you need to bring

To register, you fill in and sign a registration form (Meldeschein) and present it to the office together with your identity card or a recognised, valid passport and the confirmation from your landlord. If the office keeps the register electronically, it can do without the form if you appear in person and confirm your details by signature or electronically. Spouses, partners and family members who move on the same date from the same previous home into the same new one should use one form, and one of them can register for all.

The landlord (Wohnungsgeber) is obliged to take part. The landlord or someone they authorise must confirm the move-in in writing within the two-week period, or electronically to the registration office. The confirmation (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung) states the name and address of the landlord and, if the landlord is not the owner, the owner's name, the move-in date, the address of the home and the names of the people registering. If the landlord refuses or you do not receive the confirmation in time, you must tell the registration office without delay. It is forbidden to offer someone an address for registration if nobody actually lives there or intends to.

Registering online

The law also allows electronic registration. You request from the registration office of your previous address the data stored about you, which it must send as a pre-filled form; you check and complete it, confirm it electronically and send it to the office at your new address. Instead of the landlord's confirmation, that office can send a code to your new address, which you then confirm. Because the procedure draws on the data of the office at your previous address in Germany, it presupposes an earlier registration in Germany.

If you move abroad, you can deregister in writing or electronically.

The registration certificate

On request, the office issues a written or electronic registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung). It shows your surname, first names, any doctoral degree, date of birth and current addresses, marked as main or secondary home. The electronic certificate is free of charge.

What registration sets in motion

Registration is also the route by which people who do not yet have a German tax identification number (steuerliche Identifikationsnummer) receive one. When the registration office records a person who has not yet been assigned a number, it sends their data to the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt), which assigns one. The number has eleven digits, contains no information about the person and stays the same for life, even after a move, a change of name or a change in marital status. For data-protection reasons the BZSt only sends it by post.

The BZSt also stores registration data that employers need to deduct wage tax correctly, including data on religious affiliation and marital status, so that employers can retrieve them electronically as wage tax deduction information (ELStAM).