Is it really necessary to register your address?

I have been here four weeks (Berlin) and I have been renting a flat in my name for the last ten days - I also have a confirmed offer of employment. I have been told by a lot of people that registering at the bezirksamt (rathaus or whatever else you would like to call it) is the important first step to living here, but so far it has not seemed necessary. I would however like to open a bank account and get a tax file number. I also know someone who claims to have been here for five years before registering. I have tried to register early on in my stay and wasted several hours in the rathaus office before being thrown out by a grumpy woman who spoke not a word of english - apparently because I was staying at a friend's house and had not enough information about the actual landlord of the premises. After this cold welcome I do not feel particularly enthusiastic about the process. Do I absolutely need to register in order to get a bank account etc?

thanks

Assuming you are for real...

Not only is it necessary to register, it's the LAW. Even for Germans. Within 7 days of moving into your new flat. Would maybe help if you tried to speak a little German too (you don't need much German in order to register anyway as it's a simple process). After all, you are in Germany. If you really can't, take a German with you. You need proof of where you live if you want a bank account and you will only get a tax card if you register anyway.

Thanks for the quick reply. I am for real, however I was never told by anyone including the German consulate in Melbourne etc that it was the law. I can speak a lot more German now, so I will probably get by if I go back, additionally I have a lease in my name to take along this time. However I still resent the way I was treated last time at the office, and if they expect foreigners to register within three days they cannot expect them to necessarily know the long german bureaucratic words that fill up those forms - even German friends I asked at the time before going to the office did not know what they meant.

it is their country and their rulz. they can expect whateverthehelltheylike from us johnny forinjers.

When see all those old war movies and the Nazi troops would arrive to get someone in the middle of the night and you wondered how they knew where to find the person - well now you know how Oskr.
If you don't register problems would arise if you buy a car and try and register in your name for example.

Resentful or not, it's still the law and you've got to show your Anmeldung to register for just about anything in Germany, legal-wise.

I don't know about you, but I'd sure be resentful if I were working in their position back home and a foreigner came in, speaking not a word of English and expected me to work through things with them... Believe it or not, not everyone in Germany knows or wants to speak English.

Just out of interest, as you didn't know about registration, do you have the right to live here as in permits and so on? work permit also? Or are you EU?

Yes I have the right to work and live here for one year as per a WHP visa for Australians and general non EU kids. I probably just got the grumpiest anmeldung - bureau woman of all time probably things will be easier next time. I'm still not sure whether you need an anmeldung to open a bank account - I only have monday and this afternoon before I start work so I wouldn't mind opening a bank account today and the anmeldung places are of course closed now.

I did need my Anmeldung to open all bank accounts over here, as well as my passport.

So did I. You really don't have a choice in whether or not you register.

You must do it, whatever you like it of not, even if it is against your hippie principles.

PS. Not knowing the rules is no excuse to break them.

And be prepared for more grumpiness (and maybe more) as you are well outside the time limit for registration.

Well it seems that it is possible to get away with not registering even for years, and i don't think registering with the state has anything to do with hippie principles. I have never had to register with the state before in Australia or England, and in my experience I have not usually gained very much by adhering to bureaucratic protocols outside of perhaps voting once every three years. I'm sure things have been different for you.

Anyway thanks all for your advice! It has been much appreciated.

x

And from the other thread,


Like the shady life, dont ya?

Guess what? you are in Germany, not in England nor in Australia. When you live in Germany you follow German law ... duh

I never registered in England either but that's because we don't have that there! By law, your landlord also has the right to see your registration form if he asks for it.

Word of advice - don't try to play the Germans at their own game because you will never win.

yes sign up or they come and get you. I had to ask for extension and they already had two government offficals come to my place to see why I did not come.

sofiama

I'm in a foreign country! I'm going to act however I want!

I can't wait for the topics asking how to get out of fines for not registering and how unfair it is that they electricity company is asking for back payments.

go home!

Well whilst I appreciate your "free range" individualist Aussie take on bureaucratic central european customs such like this one, but the fact is, this is one area where things are clearly different to our Anglo-Saxon world. And you *will* need to show that you are registered in order to open a bank account, at least if you want to open a "giro" or current account (a savings account might be possible without an Anmeldung), and you may have problems with tax etc as well if you are not registered. Plus the fact that its also the law - and you can end up with a fine for not registering if you leave it for too long.

Dont let BadDoggie get to hear of it, or you could be in for a mauling!

Dont people now have to register locally in UK, for council tax purposes?

Always make sure you register at the Rathaus, otherwise you have to pay a fine. You could always lie and say that you got here yesterday (I did, which was true, but I had been heere a month as a "tourist" before I registered).

They can't refuse you an anmeldung... it's just a bit of paper. Doesn't cost a peanut. What you might need to start thinking about is a freedom of movement pass.

I was here for about 7 months before I registered. Amazingly enough SS Storm Troopers didn't drag me screaming from my bed because I didn't have my anmeldung !!

No problems registering either when I got around to it.

Yes, it's necessary. Otherwise you are breaking the law and living (I'd guess) as an illegal alien.

Now why would you want to do that? The alternative - living transparently with in German society and without risk of being seen to have done something illegal with all the subsequent suggestions that might bring - seems so much better (to me at least).

Particularly when all you need to do is gather a couple of bits of paper and go to the relevant registration place. It's hardly a big deal.

I'm usually a bit late - not months though - in updating my details. I always say "I know it's late, I'm sorry but I had a lot to do etc" to make it clear I know I'm at fault but they don't care. I'm an EU citizen though so my entitlement is rather different. I doubt they'd do anything heavy just for a few days. I also find that the official papers are a useful form of proving both my entitlement to live here and my actual address.

If we live in a different country, we have to accept and tolerate differences and barriers. And - trust me - making the effort to register is trivial compared to some of the hurdles around integrating. Really. Do it. Then forget it.

Well, lazy Germans don't register in time either. Simply claim you've moved in at a date last week. There's no way to prove you didn't anyway.
I'd even argue that there are some very positive points on this, people don't "vanish". Idiots that owe you money can't simply move to another city and are untracable (like your flatmate who moved out without paying the bills), at traffic accidents involved people and bystanders will have an ID card to prove their adress, and it will always be the right one, and last but not least since if you happen to be of interest by the police, they'll simple take your ID and send you a letter if they have any further questions instead of locking you up untill the find somebody who can identify you.

Except for the entry stamp in the passport if you are listing your previous address as in Australia.

You can take the ubahn without a ticket and amazingly nothing happens if nobody realizes it.

Mh, maybe you can claim to have lived in a different town before hand?

OMG there are no computers in Germany and they can not figure out you are lying. And if you lived in another city before you should have registered when you arrived and de-registered when you left.

Being a couple of weeks late is not a huge problem. Likely, he'll just get a lecture; there's the possibility of a modest fine.

Just do it now and be honest.

just go register, and if you got trouble with the language, well usually they do have 1 or 2 ppl who will deal with you in english but you will have to make an appointment and they might not be happy that they have to speak in english with you coz their english might be shite, but the possibility is there.
you only get a tax card once registered as the same ppl give it to you who type your address into a computer. not sure about you but i know that EU citizen have 3 month to register after they 1st moved to germany, might be different in your case, guess depends on your visa and stuff. just call them up, make an appointment and good is, it'll be done within 5 minutes!

Saucer of milk?
The Melderegisters are still municipal. They'd need to make an official query to get that information which they won't for such a trifle.
But don't worry, Herr Schäuble will have a federation-wide one up and running in 2010.

Seven days for all, German, EU, and non-EU citizens.

once you live here yes, but not if you just moved here, EU citizens have 3 month before they have to register and proof that they have work and a place to live, to be able to remain here legally, same as in the majority of EU countries.

3 months to stay without registering but 7 days once you have a place to stay and move in. If you do that in your first week, you have to register in your first week. Same as for Germans.

First I've heard of it.

Good for you oskr for not registering. Yeah lining up or taking a number and waiting all in your own time just to fill out their stupid forms. They can mind there own fecking business. The system only exists because the Germans are morans that follow like sheep. That is how Hitler got in to power everyone just got out of his way or followed like sheep. That is the mentatlity in Germany. The cars bomb down the autobahn at breakneck speed and everyone has to get out of the way otherwise it is their fault. They play football the same way - they nock the ball forward and just run into the player of the opposite team and cry obstruction. The mentality sucks here and one day it will all change.

You said it man! And how these morans follow the Americans into every idotic war, so moranic! And the nocking way they play football, mental! No wonder they never win. It`s 12 years they’ve won any international trophy! Oh, all these years of hurts, I bet it’s killing them.

Dudes, planes leave everyday for the U.K.

Feel free to get on one.

To answer your original question - you can get a bank account without being resistered

Post 38 do not follow anyone in to an idiotic war,according to your profile you are German,you would lose.Stick to playing football eh?

If you are a member (Citizen) of the EU- Countries then you are required to register under paragraph § 5 of the Freedom of Movement Act. That means that all EU Citizen have the right to work and live in the EU countries. Even though they have this right they must register one time in Germany. Then all German Citizen and foreigners must register in the county where they are living. If they do not they may be charged a fine.
Foreigners who fail to register may be prosecuted as illegal aliens and illegal workers. The company who hired them may also be fined or informed they are not authorized to work as a registered company in Germany. Every citizen German or foreigner must register in the county where they live.
If you are an American logistically supported in Germany (Status of Forces Agreement) then you are exempt from this registration process. The bank wants to have proved of where you live. This prove is a letter from your county. The bank may have to chase you down to get their money and they want to be able to pin you down to a certain address.
cheers,

Archangel

Wrong. §5 of the Gesetz über die allgemeine Freizügigkeit von Unionsbürgern relates to permission to live in Germany and not registration of residence. The requirement to register is defined in §11 of the Melderechtsrahmengesetz (MRRG). This law does not actually define time limits to register, these are defined at state level. For example (and in most other states) in Bavaria you have 7 days to register your residence. Exceed this period and you may be subject to prosecution. Visitors living here do not need to register their residence assuming they can show evidence of permanent residence elsewhere - if this residence is outside of Germany they can live unregistered for up to 2 months, if inside then 6 months (§15 MRRG - Ausnahmen von der Meldepflicht).

My stepfather is Dutch (living in the UK) and is also required to register, I think he has to go to the cop shop but not really sure, anyway it's seems to be pretty much the same deal as in DE and he is now unbefrist or whatever.

Hello, I had always thought registering was only for people who wished to open bank accounts and such in Germany, i.e. those who intend to live in Germany for a while, for work or whatever. I am here on a student visa, been here for nearly 2 months and will return to my home country in a month or so. I have not registered. Furthermore I must pay a visit to the Auslaenderbehoerde next week to extend my student visa (for another month or two). Would I get in shit because I did not register? Thanks in advance.

The 7 day rule is the same in Berlin too.

i am here on a student visa, can't i be classified as a 'visitor'? in which case, no registration is necessary? (if i am not mistaken.)
i don't plan to live here or anything, don't plan to get a job or open up a bank account, etc. simply to take some language course and then go back home

the 1st 3 month you can claim to be a tourist, thereafter you have to register

Students can be residents too, depending on where else you have to live. In any case, if your "permanent" resident is outside of Germany, then you must still register within 2 months, student or not. See the International Online Student Service
That's the last time I will repeat myself.
That's the last time I will repeat myself.

A student is clearly not a tourist. It's 2 months anyway.