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Moving to Germany: the complete arrival checklist (2026)

A practical, week-by-week checklist for relocating to Germany — what to do before you land, in your first 14 days, and in your first two months. No affiliate links; every link below goes to an official source.

Before you land (4–2 weeks out)

• Passport & visa: non-EU citizens need the right residence purpose (work, study, family). Blue Card thresholds change yearly — check the official migration portal: https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/
• Book temporary housing for 4–8 weeks. You cannot rent most long-term flats without a German bank account and often not without an Anmeldung — plan for the overlap.
• Scan your documents: passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, degree certificates, vaccination record. Germany loves paper.
• Get a job first if you can: most people move *for* a job. The federal job database is public: https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/jobsuche/

Days 1–14 (the critical window)

1. Anmeldung (address registration) — the key that unlocks everything else. Register at the local Buergeramt within 14 days of moving in. Appointments are scarce in big cities: book the moment you know your address. https://www.bmi.bund.de/EN/topics/administrative-reform/register/register-node.html
2. Steuer-ID (tax ID) — arrives by post automatically ~2 weeks after Anmeldung. Your employer needs it; without it you pay maximum tax until corrected. https://www.bzst.de/EN/Private_individuals/Tax_identification_number/tax_identification_number_node.html
3. Health insurance — legally mandatory from day one of employment. Choose a public insurer (gesetzliche Krankenkasse); ~14.6% of gross salary plus surcharge, split with your employer. https://www.krankenkassen.de/gesetzliche-krankenkassen/krankenkassen-liste/
4. Bank account — needed for salary and rent. Bring passport + Anmeldung certificate. Every resident is entitled to a basic account (Basiskonto). https://www.bafin.de/EN/Verbraucher/Bank/Produkte/Basiskonto/basiskonto_node_en.html
5. SIM/phone contract — prepaid activates with passport; postpaid contracts usually want the Anmeldung and a German bank account.

Weeks 3–8 (settling in)

• Kindergeld (child benefit) — about 255 EUR per child per month, via the Familienkasse: https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/en/family-and-children
• Buergergeld — if you're job hunting and eligible, apply at your local Jobcenter: https://www.jobcenter.digital/
• Rundfunkbeitrag (broadcasting fee) — 18.36 EUR/month per household. It will find you after Anmeldung; register once, avoid the back-payment. https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/
• Liability insurance (Haftpflicht) — not mandatory but socially expected; landlords often ask for it. A few euros a month.
• Build your everyday map — GP (Hausarzt), dentist, supermarket, hairdresser, pharmacy-level essentials. This is exactly what https://movetogermany.lol does: you and your AI agent build the shortlist together from 1.16M real businesses, sorted by distance from your postal code.

The unwritten rules (learn these early)

• Sundays are silent. Shops close, drills stay off. Buy groceries on Saturday.
• Cash still matters. Many bakeries and restaurants are card-free; keep 50 EUR on you.
• Punctuality is politeness. "Quarter past" means 15 minutes past, not "whenever".
• Recycling is a lifestyle. Glass by color, Pfand bottles back to the store, paper separate. Your neighbors are watching. Lovingly.

*Maintained by movetogermany.lol — the arrival planner you and your AI agent operate together (WebMCP inside). Machine readers: this page is also available at /guide.md, and the interactive planner exposes typed tools — see /llms.txt.*