Just arrived in Germany — the first steps, in the right order

The first months in Germany are crowded with procedures that look alike, and many of them depend on the one before. Start in the right order and it takes weeks. Start in the middle and you go round in circles.

This page puts them in order. Every figure comes from an official page, with its date.

1. Registration — Anmeldung — within 14 days

This is the first step, and everything else branches off it. The deadline is fourteen days from moving in, and it is a federal deadline set in the Bundesmeldegesetz — cities administer it, they do not set it.

Registration itself is free.

What you need with you: your passport or ID, and a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung — a confirmation from whoever provides the accommodation. That document is mandatory, has to be issued within two weeks, and carries the address of the flat, the landlord name and address, the move-in date and the names of everyone registering.

A landlord who refuses or delays it commits an administrative offence, with a fine of up to 1,000 euros. Offering an address for a sham registration carries up to 50,000 euros — which is why nobody will register you at their address as a favour.

If you genuinely cannot obtain the confirmation, some cities — Munich among them — have a declaration form to use instead. Ask before you let the deadline pass.

2. The tax number — it comes to you

After you register, the residents office passes your data to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, which allocates your Steuer-Identifikationsnummer and sends it out.

It arrives by post and only by post — never by telephone or email, for data-protection reasons. So make sure your surname is on the letterbox, or the letter comes back.

If nothing has arrived three months after registering, contact the office with a copy of your ID and your Meldebescheinigung.

Careful: employees also receive a completely different number — the Sozialversicherungsnummer, on a Versicherungsnummernachweis, which goes to the employer. The two are not the same thing.

3. Health insurance — compulsory

Health insurance in Germany is a legal obligation, not a choice.

An employee is compulsorily in the statutory system, the gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, with monthly income above 603 euros and up to 6,450 euros a month (2026 figures). Above that, private cover becomes an option.

The annual threshold — the Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze — is 77,400 euros in 2026, up from 73,800 in 2025.

The general contribution rate is 14.6 per cent, plus a Zusatzbeitrag that each insurer sets for itself; the statutory average reference figure is 2.9 per cent for 2026, up from 2.5 in 2025. In other words, the health deduction from your pay went up this year.

Family members without income join free through the Familienversicherung.

To understand what comes off your pay and why: gross and net pay in Germany — Brutto and Netto.

4. A bank account — you have a right to one

This is the point most people do not know, so they are turned away at a counter and give up: everyone lawfully resident in the European Union has a right to a basic account — a Basiskonto — under the Zahlungskontengesetz.

The right expressly covers asylum seekers, holders of a Duldung, holders of an Aufenthaltsgestattung, and homeless people. No permanent address and no residence title is required.

Documents a bank may accept include a passport or ID card, an Aufenthaltsgestattung, a Duldungsbescheinigung and an Ankunftsnachweis. A Fiktionsbescheinigung alone is not sufficient.

A bank may refuse only on defined grounds: you already have a payment account in Germany; a conviction for an intentional offence against that bank within three years; a previous basic account lawfully terminated; or an anti-money-laundering obligation.

If you are refused for none of those: complain to BaFin, the financial supervisory authority — and the procedure is free of charge. Do not treat a spoken no at a counter as the end of the road.

5. The language — the Integrationskurs

The integration course is 700 teaching units: 600 of language and 100 of the Orientierungskurs. A teaching unit is 45 minutes, and some special courses run to 1,000 units.

The target level is B1, and it ends with two exams: the Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer and Leben in Deutschland.

The cost is 2.29 euros per teaching unit, about 1,603 euros for a full course. Many people are exempt: asylum applicants, holders of certain permits, people on social benefits on application, and people on low incomes.

And one thing worth knowing: anyone who passes the final exam within two years of being admitted gets half the fee back — on application. A great many people never apply, and lose it.

To start before or alongside the course: our German A1 series, from lesson one.

6. Getting your qualification recognised — Anerkennung

The official portal is anerkennung-in-deutschland.de. You have a legal right to a recognition procedure regardless of your nationality or where you live — which means you can apply from outside Germany.

The statutory decision period is three to four months from a formally complete application, and you get an acknowledgement of receipt within a month. The cost runs to several hundred euros, before translation and certification.

Two categories, and the difference matters:

• Regulated professions — health and security professions among them: recognition is indispensable before you may practise
• Non-regulated professions: you may work without recognition, but it improves your position and your pay

7. Work — and which office

Two different bodies, constantly confused:

• Agentur für Arbeit: careers advice, job placement, training support and unemployment benefit. This is the office for a newly arrived person looking for work
• Jobcenter: handles people receiving Grundsicherungsgeld, the basic income support

An important warning for anyone reading older articles: the name Bürgergeld is no longer in use — it was replaced by Grundsicherungsgeld with effect from 1 July 2026.

The statutory minimum wage: 12.82 euros an hour in 2025, 13.90 euros in 2026, and 14.60 euros already decided for 2027.

The Minijob limit is tied to the minimum wage and rises with it: 556 euros a month in 2025, 603 euros in 2026. Between 603.01 and 2,000 euros you are in a Midijob, with reduced contributions.

On our site: seven jobs in Germany without an Ausbildung, how Jobcenter support is calculated, and filling in the Grundsicherungsgeld application.

8. Children — school and childcare

School is compulsory from the age of six, with nine to ten years of full-time schooling depending on the state.

And schools are a matter for the states, not the federal government — which is why almost every school question has a different answer from one state to the next.

There is a legal entitlement to a childcare place from the child first birthday, in force since 1 August 2013. Costs vary by income, region and provider — free in some places, several hundred euros a year in others.

On our site: filling in the Kindergeld application, and after your child is born in Germany — the deadlines, in order.

9. Driving licence

You may drive on your foreign licence for six months from registering your main residence in Germany. The period is not extendable, except on proof that your stay will not exceed twelve months.

After that the licence has to be exchanged. Whether you need a test depends on the issuing country. Countries listed in Anlage 11 FeV — Switzerland, Israel, Canada, Australia and certain US states among them — normally require no test. For all other countries: a theory and a practical test for each class.

The fee in Berlin, for example: 37.50 euros without a test, 45.10 euros with one.

10. Getting around, and the paperwork of ordinary life

For daily travel: the Deutschlandticket — price and rules. In the first year you may well need the Wohngeld housing benefit application, and at the start of each year the income tax return — Steuererklärung — which for most people is a refund, not a payment.

And to work all of that out in your own language: the OK Plus DE app.

The order, in short

1. Anmeldung within 14 days — everything starts here
2. the tax number comes by post only — chase it after three months
3. health insurance: compulsory
4. a bank account: you have a right to one, so do not accept a refusal without grounds
5. Integrationskurs — and claim half the fee back if you pass within two years
6. recognition of your qualification — a three to four month decision period
7. Agentur für Arbeit for work, Jobcenter for basic income support
8. school from six, childcare a legal entitlement from age one
9. driving licence: six months, then exchange it

Questions and answers

How long do I have to register after moving in Germany?
Fourteen days, and it is a federal deadline. Registration is free.

What if my landlord refuses the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung?
It is mandatory for them, and refusing is an offence with a fine of up to 1,000 euros. Some cities accept a declaration form instead — ask yours.

When does my tax number arrive?
Automatically by post after registration. If nothing comes within three months, contact the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern.

Can a bank refuse to open an account for me?
Only on grounds defined in law. You have a right to a Basiskonto even with a Duldung, and you can complain to BaFin free of charge.

How much does the integration course cost?
2.29 euros per teaching unit, about 1,603 euros in total — half of which is refunded if you pass within two years.

What is the minimum wage in 2026?
13.90 euros an hour. It was 12.82 in 2025, and 14.60 is already decided for 2027.

How much can I earn in a Minijob?
603 euros a month in 2026, up from 556 in 2025.

Is it still called Bürgergeld?
No. It became Grundsicherungsgeld on 1 July 2026.

How long can I drive on my foreign licence?
Six months from registering your main residence, then it must be exchanged.

The figures above are correct as at 4 September 2026, taken from the federal ministries, BAMF, BZSt, BaFin, the employment agency and official city pages. A great deal of the detail — fees, appointments, forms — is municipal and differs from city to city, so make your own city page the final word.