How to Complete Your Anmeldung Form in Germany
This page provides a detailed English guide of how to complete the Anmeldung form to ensure you have a successful address registration in Germany.
If you plan on living in Germany for more than 3 months, then you will need to complete your address registration, known as Anmeldung in Germany. Completing your Anmeldung is essential to living in Germany, and is needed when applying for a visa (residence permit) at an immigration office, obtaining a tax ID and completing most administrative tasks in Germany.
While we cover all the ins and outs of the Anmeldung process here, this page will instead focus specifically on completing the Anmeldung form (Anmeldeformular) that you will need to submit at your address registration appointment.
In this article, we will focus on the Anmeldung form for Berlin (as this is Germany’s most popular expat city). We have also included links to the Anmeldung forms for different German cities – while the forms look slightly different from city to city, they always ask for the same information so the Berlin-specific information below will also apply whether you are moving to Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, etc.
How to complete your Anmeldung form
First up, you need to get hold of a blank copy of the Anmeldung form for the place where you are registering your address. This will be available from your local Citizens Office (Bürgeramt) or can be downloaded from their respective websites.
As mentioned, German cities have their own template Anmeldung forms:
For clarity, we have divided the Anmeldung form for Berlin into 6 sections:
We will now take a closer look at how to complete each section of the Anmeldung form.
Section 1: Office Use Only
This section is for office use only and can be left blank.
Section 2: New Address
In this section of the Anmeldung form, you enter details of your new address (Neue Wohnung). First up, you need to specify whether or not your new apartment is your main and only residence in Germany. You have the following choices:
Alleinige Wohnung – Your apartment will be your only residence in Germany. This is by far the most common selection for newcomers to Germany.
Hauptwohnung – You have more than one residence in Germany but this apartment will be your main residence.
Nebenwohnung – You have more than one residence in Germany and this apartment will be your secondary residence.
Next up are details of the date of the move and the apartment address:
Tag des Einzugs – Here you enter the date of entry into your new apartment (e.g. 30.05.2023).
Postleitzahl, Gemeinde, Ortsteil – Here you enter the postcode, municipality and city of your new apartment (e.g. 10318, Lichtenberg, Berlin).
Straße, Hausnummer, Zusätze – Here you enter the street name, building number and any additional details regarding your apartment such as the apartment number, floor number, etc. (e.g. Strausberger Platz 8, Whg. 4).
Section 3: Previous Address
Section 3 of the Anmeldung form is largely similar to section 2 but is instead asking about your previous address (i.e. the address that you are moving from). First up, you need to specify whether or not your previous apartment was your main and only residence in Germany. You have the following choices:
Alleinige Wohnung – Your previous apartment was your only residence.
Hauptwohnung – You have more than one residence and your previous apartment was your main residence.
Nebenwohnung – You have more than one residence and your previous apartment was your secondary residence.
Next up are details of your move-out date and the address of your previous residence:
Tag des Auszugs – Here you enter the move-out date from your previous apartment (e.g. 28.05.2023).
Postleitzahl, Gemeinde, Ortsteil – Here you enter the postcode, municipality and city of your previous apartment (e.g. 10435, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin).
Straße, Hausnummer, Zusätze – Here you enter the street name, building number and any additional details regarding your previous address such as the apartment number, floor number, etc. (e.g. Schönhauser Allee 44, Whg. 8).
Bei Zuzug aus dem Ausland Staat – If you are moving to Germany from overseas, enter the city and country of your previous residence (e.g. Sydney, Australia).
Section 4: Personal Details
Section 4 is where you will detail the bulk of your personal details. Before providing these, you need to answer a couple of questions:
Wird die bisherige Wohnung beibehalten? Will you retain your previous residence?
Answer ‘Nein’ (No) if you will not retain your previous residence.
Answer ‘Ja’ (Yes) if you will retain your previous residence and then specify if your previous apartment will be your main residence (Hauptwohnung) or secondary residence (Nebenwohnung).
Haben die unten aufgeführten Personen noch weitere Wohnungen in Deutschland? Do any of the people listed on this form have other residences in Germany?
Answer ‘Nein’ (No) if you do not have another apartment in Germany.
Answer ‘Ja’ (Yes) if you have another apartment in Germany.
Next up are your personal details:
Familienname ggf. Doktorgrad – Your surname + any doctorate titles.
Vornamen – First name or names.
Geburtsname – Maiden name (name at birth) if different to the Familienname detailed above.
Geschlecht – Your sex. Enter M for ‘männlich’ (male) or W for ‘weiblich’ (female).
Tag, Ort, Land der Geburt – Enter your date of birth, place of birth and country of birth.
Religionsgesellschaft – If you are a member of a church, then you can enter this here (although note that this may make you subject to church tax). Use the following abbreviations for the different church communities:
oa – None
rk – Roman Catholic
ak – Old Catholic
ev – Evangelical
lt – Evangelical Lutheran
rf – Protestant reformed
isby – National Association of Jewish Communities in Bavaria
If you are part of a religious community not listed above, then just enter its full name on the form – the German authorities will then determine if you are required to pay church tax in Germany.
Staatsangehörigkeiten – Enter your nationality. If you have dual nationality, then you can enter both here.
Ordens- Künstlername – In almost all cases, you would leave this blank unless you go by a different artistic/monastic name or pseudonym.
The Anmeldung form for Berlin has space for two people’s details so you can also include your spouse or child on the same form. Additional family members will need to be included on an additional form.
The final part of section 4 requires you to detail your marital status:
Familienstand – Marital status. Enter the following German abbreviations depending on your marital status:
LD – Single
VH – Married
LP – Civil partnership
GS – Divorced
LA – Civil partnership dissolved
VW – Widowed
LV – Civil partner deceased
Angaben zur Eheschließung / Lebenspartnerschaft (Datum, Ort, Land AZ) – Enter the date, place and country of your marriage or civil partnership
Section 5 – ID Document
Section 5 of the Anmeldung form requires that you enter details from the ID document (passport or ID card) that you will be using to prove your identity at your address registration appointment in Germany.
Art – Type of ID. Enter the following German abbreviations depending on the type of ID you are providing:
RP – Passport
PA – ID card
KP – Child passport
Ausstellungsbehörde – Issuing authority of your ID document
Seriennummer – The ID document number (e.g. passport number)
Datum – Date of issue
gültig bis – Expiration date
Section 6 – Date and signature
The sixth and final section just requires you to enter the date of signature and your signature.
We hope you have found this overview of the Anmeldung form helpful. As mentioned, there are different template forms for different cities in Germany, but these all request the same information detailed on this page.
For further information on the address registration process in Germany, check out our Anmeldung Guide. Still needing to find accommodation in Germany that permits Anmeldung? Then head over to our German Apartment Hunting Guide for tips, tricks and suggestions for finding accommodation in Germany.