Moving within Germany (Ummeldung)

Moving flats or cities restarts a mini-checklist:

1. Ummeldung (re-registration): within two weeks at your new city's registration office — same drill as your first Anmeldung (passport + new Wohnungsgeberbestätigung). Moving out of Germany entirely is an Abmeldung instead.

2. If you moved to a different city: your Ausländerbehörde changes too. Your residence permit stays valid, but your file moves — the new office handles your next extension. The new city may have completely different procedures (that's this whole website's point); check your new city's pages.

3. The notification round — takes one evening, saves months of chaos:

• Address on your eAT card: the new office updates the address sticker
• Bank, Krankenkasse, university/employer
• Rundfunkbeitrag (move your Beitragsnummer to the new flat)
• Insurance policies, phone contract, subscriptions
• Mail forwarding (Nachsendeservice) from Deutsche Post — ~€30 for 6–12 months, catches everything you forgot

4. Old flat exit: document the handover (photos + a signed protocol), return all keys, and chase your deposit — landlords may legally hold parts of it for months pending the utility reconciliation, but should return the bulk promptly.

Red flags:

• Rental notice periods are 3 months (Kündigungsfrist) — hand in written notice before committing to the new city's rent, or budget for double rent.
• Phone and internet contracts don't move automatically and have their own notice rules — after the initial term you can cancel monthly, but the initial term binds.
• Skipping the Ummeldung: fines are possible, but the real damage is official mail going to the old address — including exactly the deadline letters this site warns you about.
• No handover protocol at the old flat — without photos and signatures, the "repainting" and "deep cleaning" deposit deductions write themselves.