Reg­is­ter­ing in Karlsruhe

Duty to reg­is­ter: In Ger­many, you are required by law to reg­is­ter your address or any change in your address to the author­i­ties in your town/city of res­i­dence. This is impor­tant: you may have to pay a fine if you do not do this in time.

What doc­u­ment should I take with me when I register?

  • Pass­port or iden­ti­ty card
  • For­eign pass­port (if available)
  • Elec­tron­ic res­i­dence per­mit (if available)
  • Con­fir­ma­tion from your land­lord (e.g. rental contract)

Impor­tant: When you reg­is­ter, you will receive a Meldebescheini­gung (con­fir­ma­tion of reg­is­tra­tion). Please keep this doc­u­ment in a safe place.

Reg­is­tra­tion: In Ger­many, when you move into a new house or apart­ment, you must reg­is­ter with the local author­i­ty with­in two weeks. You can do this at any Bürg­er­büro (cit­i­zens’ office) in the city of Karl­sruhe. Click this link to find the address­es of all cit­i­zens’ offices in Karl­sruhe: https://www.karlsruhe.de/stadt-rathaus/service-buergerinformation/buergerdienste

Chang­ing address: Even if you move into a new house or apart­ment in the same city, you must also reg­is­ter your change of address with the local author­i­ty with­in two weeks.

Make an appoint­ment: It is often a good idea to make an appoint­ment at your local cit­i­zens’ office before going. You can do this either by tele­phone – dial 115 (tele­phone ser­vice cen­tre for the city and dis­trict of Karl­sruhe) – or online at https://www.karlsruhe.de/stadt-rathaus/service-buergerinformation/terminvereinbarung

This page was last updated: 2024-07-24