City Registration

The City Registration Procedure: After you have found an apartment in Germany, the next step is to register your German address at the corresponding city's registration office (in German: Bürgerbüro or Einwohnermeldeamt). This needs to be done within the first 2 weeks after you moved to your apartment. Please note, that the city registration process is a 100% must! It is the basis for e.g. getting your German Tax ID, opening a German bank account, or getting your long-term work & residence permit from the immigration office. Even if you did not find a long-term apartment at the very beginning of your stay in Germany, please make sure that you complete the city registration procedure with your temporary apartment. You can update/change the address with the city registration office as often as you want to ;) It is free of charge and also legally required (the city registration office always needs to have your up-to-date address data in the system).

For registering your German address, you can choose any city registration office available in your city (e.g. if you are moving to Cologne, you can use any city registration office of the city of Cologne even though it might not be located in your own district/neighborhood). Nevertheless, please be informed that each registration office has its own process for getting an appointment for the registration procedure. In some cities like Cologne or Düsseldorf, you have to book an appointment online. In other cities, this option might be not applicable and you have to get a waiting number for your city registration process. You can get the waiting number directly onsite when visiting the city registration office.

Because of the different "ways" of getting an appointment, it is highly recommended that you make yourself familiar with the handling of the registration procedure in your German city (= place of residence) before you go to the city registration office. Also, if you got an appointment for the city registration upfront (e.g. via an online booking system), please calculate some waiting time for the city registration procedure. The city registration offices are often crowded and that's why delays can happen on a regular basis. In case you can only get an appointment during your own working hours at Eurowinhs Digital, still feel free to book it :) This is totally fine for us! Moreover, please also keep in mind that the appointments with the city registration office are HIGHLY DEMANDED. Therefore, it can be hard to get an appointment on short notice. Therefore, if possible, please try to book an appointment with the city regsiration office as early as possible,

When you move to Cologne, you chose one out of nine different city registration offices. An overview of them can be found here.

The city registration offices in Cologne operate at the following days and times:

Monday (07:30 - 12:00)
Tuesday (09:30 - 18:00)
Wednesday (07:30 - 12:00)
Thursday (07:30 - 16:00)
Friday (07:30 - 12:00)

If you want to book an appointment online for your city registration procedure with the city of Cologne, please follow the followings steps:

Open your web browser and go to this link.
Select "Anmeldung" under "Meldewesen". Please note that for each person that has to go through the city registration process, an appointment needs to be booked. Therefore, it is necessary to set the quantity to e.g. 3 if 3 people need to be registered.
Click on "weiter".
Select the city registration office that you want to use for the city registration procedure.
Select a suitable date from the calendar displayed
Select a suitable time.
Fill in your personal information and confirm the "Data Protection Policy".
Click on "Vormerkung abschließen".

What to do when there are no appointments bookable?

On weekdays (Monday - Friday) the city registration office in Cologne releases new appointments very early in the morning (around 06:30 / 07:00 local time). Please check the corresponding website at this time to book an appointment for you (and your family - if applicable). Moreover, on Mondays and Wednesdays you can visit the city registration offices in Cologne without an appointment! Please bing plenty of waiting time!

For the city registration procedure, there are a few documents and information needed. Below you can find a list of these documents. Please make sure to have them with you when you go to the city registration office.

Documents to bring:

Valid Passport and/or ID Card
German National Visa / Residence Permit (if applicable)
Signed rental contract
Certificate of Residence / Confirmation letter from your landlord/landlady (in German: Bestätigung des Wohnungsgebers). You can download the needed form here. Please note that this document is a 100% must! Without this document, the city registration cannot be completed!
Excerpt from land register, notarial contract or current real estate tax assessment notice instead of the landlord certificate when you move into your own home (in this case it is sufficient to submit a copy).
If you move to Germany from abroad and are married or partnered, please bring your marriage certificate (excerpt from the marriage register) or civil partnership certificate with you. The birth certificates (excerpt from the birth register) of your minor children, who relocated with you, are required as well. Furthermore, in the case of foreign certificates, a German translation by an official German translator is required. Original documents and translations must be presented.

Important: The clerks at the city registration office will ask you whether you are baptized or not. This is important later on as you need to pay church taxes in Germany (Protestants, Catholics, and Jews need to pay church taxes in Germany). If you are not baptized, please tell the clerks at the city registration office accordingly.

Once you’ve registered with the city registration office, you will receive a registration sheet (in German: Meldebescheinigung). You will need this sheet for further purposes (like opening a German bank account). Moreover, the city registration office will inform the tax office about your registration, as your personal details provided at the city registration office will serve as a basis for creating your German Tax ID. You will get your German Tax ID automatically via the postal mail app. 3-4 weeks after completing the city registration. Please share your German Tax ID with the Human Resources Team of Eurowings Digital as soon as you have it. It is needed for your monthly salary payment!