Enrol at your university (Immatrikulation)

Admission and enrolment are different things: Immatrikulation is when you officially become a student, and it usually must happen in person within a fixed window printed in your admission letter.

The standard requirements:

• Admission letter
• Passport
• Health insurance confirmation — digitally transmitted from your Krankenkasse to the university (the M10 procedure — just tell your Krankenkasse which university; they know the drill)
• Original certificates (some universities want to see them physically once)
• Payment of the semester fee (Semesterbeitrag, ~€85–400 depending on university — this is not tuition; it covers admin, Studierendenwerk and often your semester ticket)

What you get:

• Immatrikulationsbescheinigung (enrolment certificate) — needed for your residence permit, jobs, and basically everything; download extra copies
• Student ID (often digital) and semester ticket
• University account, email and campus system access

And every semester after: re-register. The Rückmeldung — paying the semester fee within the announced window — is how you stay enrolled. Put the deadline in your calendar the day you enrol; the university will not chase you personally.

Red flags:

• The enrolment window is a hard deadline — miss it and your admission lapses while your visa clock keeps ticking.
• A PDF or photo of your insurance card is not the insurance confirmation — only the digital M10 transmission from the Krankenkasse counts. Trigger it a week ahead.
• "I'll show the original certificates later" — some universities block enrolment until they've physically seen them. Have them with you.
• Missing the Rückmeldung in later semesters leads to de-enrolment (Exmatrikulation) — which cascades straight into your residence permit. It's the most avoidable disaster in student life.
• Booking a Europe tour before enrolment is done.