Information on the legal requirement to register your address when moving
into a home in Germany and to deregister when moving away from Germany
You have been given protection in the Federal Republic of Germany because of the
war in Ukraine.
Please note the following information on registering/deregistering your address in
Germany.
If you move into a home for the first time after entering Germany or are staying with
friends or relatives here, you do not have to register your address for the first three
months. However, you may do so voluntarily. Registering your address in the first
three months may make sense especially if you want to place your child in a school
or kindergarten or if you need other social assistance benefits or services.
After three months, you and your children are required to register your address.
Please register at the registration authority for the area where you are living in Germany. Children up to age 16 are to be registered by the person they are moving in
with, that is, their parent(s). Babies newly born in Germany need to be registered only
if they live somewhere other than with their parents or mother.
If you have the following documents, please bring them with you to the registration
authority or submit them as soon as possible afterwards:
biometric passport or other identity documents, such as an ID card, for all family members;
temporary residence permit, provisional residence document (Fiktionsbescheinigung), certificate indicating the nearest reception centre (Anlaufbescheinigung) or arrival certificate (Ankunftsnachweis);
confirmation of residence from your landlord or the person who is hosting you
in their home (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung);
birth certificate for children, marriage certificate for married couples.
If you do not have any of the documents listed above which show your personal data
in Latin script (not Cyrillic script), then before you register your address at the registration authority, you will first have to register at an initial reception centre or foreigners authority.
Your information will be stored in the population register. As proof that you have registered your address, you will be given an official confirmation of registration (Meldebestätigung). Please keep this document in a safe place. You will need to show
it to other government authorities as proof of your residence. In particular, you
will need to show it to the foreigners authority or initial reception centre.
The confirmation of residence must contain the following information:
the name and address of the person providing the home and the name of the
owner, if this is a different person;
the date you moved in;
the address of the home; and
2
the names of the people required to register.
You can find forms for this confirmation of residence (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung)
on the website of your local government or at the registration authority.
The person providing the home (Wohnungsgeber) is generally your landlord or someone authorised by them, such as a property manager. If you are staying with friends
or relatives, they would be the persons providing the home.
If you move out of one home and into a different one, you are required to register
your new address with the registration authority within two weeks of moving. You do
not have to deregister your previous address.
If you leave Germany and move to another country or return to Ukraine, you do
need to deregister your German address with the registration authority. To deregister, go to the registration authority no more than one week before you move or two
weeks after you move, or write or send an email to the registration authority informing
them that you are leaving Germany.