Leaving Germany but forgetting to deregister

Hi guys,

Last year I posted a topic about de-registering since we were moving back to the US. Well, after all of that I completely forgot to de-register.

I'll be in-country next month for business and wonder if it's going to matter at all to the customs folks. I can't imagine it's that big of a deal really, especially since my residence and work permit are still good thru May 07.

See you soon...

kit

don't know if its a problem or not, but I would call the Consulate nearest you and ask them.

I forgot to de-register when I left Munich as well, but then again I wasn't leaving for another country - unless you want to count Bayern as a separate country! Ended up de-registering a few weeks (ok maybe it was more like over a month) later by filling in the relevant form (taken from the KVR website) and posting it off. Nobody seemed to care ... they just sent me a confirmation letter a week or so later. It only caused problems later with my Lohnsteuerkarte getting sent to the wrong address but that is probably something you don't need to worry about.

Actually my friend moved back to USA and found that it affected when she could claim back her pension contributions - she had to be de-registered for 2 years before she could claim them and in fact she had forgotten to de-register at all. In the end she sorted it out (well her company did) but it is something to check into.

It has nothing to do with customs/Zoll.
It could well interest the immigration authorities/local authorities but customs will be the least interested of all IMHO.

If you have been out of the country for more than 6 months, your permit is null and void...

I can't see that you not having de-registered being a problem when trying to come back into the country. But I would do it anyway to be on the safe side.

If this works, it should be a PDF of the form. If not, then try here and choose "Formular Abmeldung"

... Then do you mail me the formal 'abmeldung' back to me in Canada with the address that provided on the form?

A co worker of mine returned to the UK and did not de register. He returned to a different part of Germany and had a realy bad time for not de registering when he went to register again. He had to wait months and they marked him as a problem person he spoke far better German than me but encountered all sort of problems with tax etc that I never had. You would not believe we are in the EU the way they treat us in Germany.

Nothing to do with the EU at all. He'd had have had the same problems if he had been German changing cities (or even homes in the same city) and had not de- or re-registered.

Well, I "forgot" to de-register my old apartment in July 04 when I moved to the US. I finally did that in November this past year and no one cared (it was a Zweitwohnsitz though and I am German).
I think if you just don't mention that you didn't just move out the other day, you'll be fine.

If you are a citizen of the EU and have a birth certificate why should you have to go through all this process. Its just state control.

Maybe it is state "control", but it still has nothing to do with the EU or Birth Certificates. It's simply German Law. You choose to live here, so you obey the rules. Just like you drive on the right hand side of the road, unlike in UK, where I hear they drive on the left, or is that state control too? Clearly you could rebel, and take the UK option of driving on the left, but I doubt you'd get far.

Thats what I am saying the EU is supposed to stop all this its ok for the UK to fit in with the EU but not ok for Germany, who want it all their way by keeping laws like this that suits them but not me.

The EU is a Franko German take over

I am always up for slating pretty much every aspect of Germany Mr Norfolk, and whilst all the registering stuff is a complete pain in the arse (even for Germans) is is just the way it is. Nuffink to do with the EU. If you live in England, you essentially have to register your address too, for all that council tax palava. In Holland you can get stoned off your noodle, but here if I grow a few 'erbs myself and incinerate them in my own house, I'm nicked. Whatyagonnado.
Laws are often stupid, but they are laws.