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Your city's Bürgeramt / Einwohnermeldeamt (Meldebehörde)

The Anmeldung form, field by field

Registering your address is the first domino: without the Meldebescheinigung you get from it, you cannot get a tax ID, a bank account, a phone contract or a residence permit. The form itself is one or two pages, and most of it is copying your passport. Two fields decide whether you pay extra tax for years, and almost nobody explains them.

Official name: Anmeldung bei der Meldebehörde (Meldeschein / Anmeldeformular)
Who needs it: Everyone who moves into a home in Germany — including EU citizens, students and people staying only a few months.

Where to get the official form

We don't host government forms — they are revised without notice, and an outdated copy gets rejected. These links go to the issuing authority.

  • Your city's own form ↗

    Registration is municipal, so each city publishes its own version of the form. Berlin's service page (linked) carries the Berlin form; for other cities, search your city's website for “Anmeldung Wohnung Formular”. Many Bürgerämter also simply hand you the form at the counter.

  • Hamburg — Meldewesen ↗

    Hamburg runs registration through its central portal, and several districts let you start online.

  • Munich — Kreisverwaltungsreferat ↗

    Munich's KVR publishes the Meldeschein together with the appointment booking.

Have these ready before you start

  • Your passport or national ID (and everyone else's who is moving in with you)
  • The Wohnungsgeberbestätigung signed by your landlord — the Bürgeramt will not register you without it
  • The exact date you moved in (Einzugsdatum), not the date you signed the lease
  • Your marriage certificate if you are married and the marriage is not in a German register

The new home

Tag des Einzugs

Date you moved in

The day you actually started living there. This starts the two-week registration window under the Bundesmeldegesetz.

01.09.2026

Watch out: Not the contract start date if you moved in later. The date you write is the date the office measures your lateness against.

Neue Wohnung: Straße, Hausnummer, Zusatz

New address: street, house number, addition

Exactly as it appears on your lease and your doorbell — including the staircase or apartment number.

Musterstraße 12, Aufgang B, 3. OG links

Postleitzahl, Ort

Postal code, town

Five-digit German postal code and the city.

10115 Berlin

Hauptwohnung / Nebenwohnung

Main residence / secondary residence

Tick Hauptwohnung if this is where you mainly live. Only tick Nebenwohnung if you keep another main home in Germany.

Watch out: Many cities levy a Zweitwohnungsteuer (second-home tax) on a Nebenwohnung. If this is your only German home, it is your Hauptwohnung — a wrong tick here can cost you a percentage of your rent every year.

Each person moving in

The form repeats this block for every person — spouse, children, flatmates registering together.

Familienname / Geburtsname

Surname / name at birth

Your surname exactly as printed in the machine-readable passport line. Geburtsname is only filled if your name changed (usually through marriage).

Nguyen / Tran

Watch out: Transliteration must match the passport character for character — a missing accent here means your name mismatches on every later document.

Vornamen

Given names

All given names, in passport order.

Minh Anh

Geburtsdatum und Geburtsort, Geburtsstaat

Date and place of birth, country of birth

As in the passport. Place of birth is the town, not the region.

14.03.1994, Hanoi, Vietnam

Geschlecht

Sex

männlich / weiblich / divers, or the “ohne Angabe” option where the form offers it.

Staatsangehörigkeit(en)

Nationality/nationalities

All citizenships you hold. Write them in German if you can (vietnamesisch, indisch, türkisch) — the office will otherwise translate for you.

Familienstand (ggf. Datum und Ort der Eheschließung)

Marital status (and date/place of marriage)

ledig (single), verheiratet (married), geschieden (divorced), verwitwet (widowed), or eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft.

Watch out: If you are married, bring the marriage certificate. Being registered as married is what later lets you use the more favourable joint tax classes.

Rechtliche Zugehörigkeit zu einer Religionsgesellschaft

Legal membership of a religious community

This is a tax question, not a question about your beliefs. It asks whether you are a member of a religious body that collects church tax through the state (mainly Catholic, Protestant and some Jewish communities). If you are not a member of one, the answer is “keine” / “ohne”.

keine

Watch out: Naming a tax-collecting community here means Kirchensteuer — an extra 8–9% on top of your income tax — is deducted from every payslip. Never declare a membership you do not have; equally, do not deny a real membership, which is a false statement to the authority.

Bisherige Wohnung / Zuzug aus dem Ausland

Previous address / arrival from abroad

Your last address. Coming from outside Germany, write the full foreign address and the country.

12 Nguyen Trai, Hanoi, Vietnam

Ausweisdokument: Art, Nummer, ausstellende Behörde, gültig bis

ID document: type, number, issuing authority, valid until

Passport (Reisepass) or national ID card (Personalausweis) — number, issuing authority and expiry exactly as printed.

Datum, Unterschrift

Date, signature

Sign by hand. Each adult signs for themselves; a parent signs for minor children.

The mistakes that cost people

  • Going to the appointment without the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung. It is a separate form, signed by the landlord, and there is no way around it.
  • Entering a religion out of politeness or habit. This is the single most expensive mistake on the form.
  • Ticking Nebenwohnung because the flat feels temporary — if it is your only home in Germany, it is your Hauptwohnung.
  • Writing the lease date instead of the actual move-in date.
  • Names that do not match the passport exactly, including missing middle names.

How to submit it

  1. 1Book an appointment at any Bürgeramt in your city — you are not tied to the one nearest your flat.
  2. 2Bring the completed form, the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, and every person's passport. Fill the form in advance; the counter time is short.
  3. 3You leave with a Meldebescheinigung (registration confirmation). Keep it — banks, employers and the Ausländerbehörde all ask for it.
  4. 4Your tax ID (Steuer-Identifikationsnummer) arrives separately by post a few weeks later.

What happens next

Registration is normally done on the spot. The Meldebescheinigung is issued at the counter; the tax ID comes by letter to the address you just registered, which is why the mailbox needs your name on it before you go.

Common questions

How long do I have to register after moving in?

The Bundesmeldegesetz sets a two-week window from the day you move in. Cities differ in how strictly they enforce it, and a late registration can in principle be fined — but a missed appointment slot is a normal reason for delay, so book early and keep the booking confirmation.

Can I register without a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung?

No. Since 2015 the landlord's confirmation is a legal requirement, and Bürgerämter turn people away without it. If your landlord is slow, point them at their legal obligation to provide it.

Can I fill the form in English?

Fill it in Latin script with your real data — the labels are German but nobody expects you to write German sentences. Only the free-text fields would need German, and this form has almost none.

Do I need a new Anmeldung when I move within the same city?

Yes — moving to a new flat means registering again (Ummeldung) with the same form and a new Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from the new landlord.

Next

Last checked 2026-07-25. Practical guidance on filling in a form — not legal advice, and we do not submit applications on anyone's behalf. Forms and requirements change; the issuing authority's own page is always the authority.