Guide: Anmeldung form in English

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Doing the Anmeldung is necessary to get a tax ID, start work and generally be able to use services like a German bank.

This short guide provides guidelines to fill in the Anmeldung form in English. This document is required when registering your address in Germany.

It can be a confusing document when speaking no German at all. Scroll down to read a step-by-step explanation to fill this in manually.

How to fill in the Anmeldung form in English:

Finding the form for Berlin

The Anmeldung form can be downloaded here or via the original Berlin-city server (look for the form “Anmeldung der alleinigen Wohnung oder der Hauptwohnung” under “Formulare section“).

Finding the form for other cities

You can easily find your local Anmeldung form by searching for “Anmeldung formular [your city]”.

Instructions: how to fill the form in

You can find below an image with an overview of the different sections and annotations. Below the image, there is a bullet point list. Each item is a field on the document.

Anmeldung form Berlin English translation

Left column: new address details

  • Checkboxes: Die neue Wohnung ist:
    • If you only have one address in Germany, tick alleinige Wohnung
    • If you have multiple addresses in Germany and this new address is your main residence, tick Hauptwohnung.
    • If you have multiple addresses in Germany and this new address is your secondary residence, tick Nebenwohnung.
  • Tag des Einzugs: When did you move in at this address? Prefer a dd.mm.yy format.
  • Postleitzahl, Gemeinde, Ortsteil: Postal code and city name.
  • Straße, Hausnummer, Zusätze: Your full street address, street number.

Right column: old address details

  • Checkboxes:Die (letzte) bisherige Wohnung (im Inland) war:
    • If your last address was your only address in Germany, tick alleinige Wohnung
    • If your last address was your main residence in Germany, tick Hauptwohnung.
    • If your last address was your secondary residence, tick Nebenwohnung.
  • Tag des Einzugs: When did you move in at this address? Prefer a dd.mm.yy format.
  • Postleitzahl, Gemeinde, Ortsteil: Postal code and city name.
  • Straße, Hausnummer, Zusätze: Your full street address, street number.
  • Bei Zuzug aus dem Ausland, Staat: Write here the country of your previous residence, if applicable.
  • Wird die bisherige Wohnung beibehalten?
    • If you won’t keep your previous address as a place of residence, tick Nein.
    • If you will keep your previous address as place of residence, you need to specifiy in which capacity. Tick Ja and Hauptwohnung (main residence) or Nebenwohnung (secondary residence).
  • Haben die unten aufgeführten Personen noch weitere Wohnungen in Deutschland?: This asks if any of the person registering have other residences in Germany. Tick Nein if you don’t.

Anmeldung form in English: your personal details

  • Familienname, ggf. Doktorgrad, Passname: Your last name
  • Vornamen: Your first name(s)
  • Geburtsname: Your birth name if applicable
  • Geschlecht: Your gender. “männlich” or “weiblich”.
  • Tag, Ort, Land der Geburt: Your birth date and birth place.
  • Religionsgesellschaft: Which Church do you belong to? In Germany, some religion collect taxes. It’s easy to get out of paying Church tax though.
  • Staatsangehörigkeiten: Your nationality.
  • Ordens- Künstlername: Probably not relevant for most of us but if you have a religious name, nickname or artist name, put it there.
  • Familienstand: Your family status:
    • Single: Ledig
    • Married: Verheiratet
    • Civil union: in eingetragener Lebenspartnerschaft
    • Widowed: Verwitwet

The section 2 is used if another person registers with you. The fields are the same.

Anmeldung form in English: ID document details

  • Art: The type of document you will bring with you.
    • Passport: “RP”.
    • ID card: “PA”.
  • Ausstellungsbehörde: Issuing authority.
  • Seriennummer: Issuing number.
  • Datum: Issuing date.
  • Gültig bis: Expiration date

Filling in the form for more than 1 or 2 peope

Use the second set of fields on that document to register a second person. If you register more than 2 people at a time, simply use the same form again for any additional family member or relative.

Filling in the form online

Newcomers cannot usually use the online services provided by the local municipality (if supported). This is because they don’t have their eID/Bund ID setup yet. Foreigners typically lack an eID because:

  • Non-EU citizens usually receive a residence permit, but unless it has an activated eID function, they cannot use it for online verification.
  • EU citizens with an eID from their home country may sometimes use it, but support varies by municipality.
  • The outcome is that most newcomers cannot use an online form.

It still requires you to print the form and bring it with you to your Bürgeramt appointment.

I hope this little guide on how to fill in the Anmeldung form in English for Berlin was helpful. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

Sources and references

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