How to leave Germany

This checklist helps you move from Germany to another country.

Before you leave Germany

Full checklist

• Quit your job
  The notice period is usually 1 to 3 months. You can sometimes negotiate a shorter notice period.
  • Give your resignation letter
    Your notice period starts when your employer receives your resignation letter. If you got fired or laid off, don’t give a resignation letter.
  • Register as unemployed
    Do it as soon as possible. This is how you get unemployment benefits until you leave the EU.¹⁵
  • Tell your health insurance
    When you are unemployed, the price of your health insurance changes. If you get unemployment benefits, it pays for your health insurance.
  • Use your vacation days
    If you can’t use all your vacation days, your employer must pay them to you.
  • Get all documents from your employer
    • Letter of reference (Arbeitszeugnis)
    • Employment certificate (Arbeitsbescheinigung)
    • Vacation certificate (Urlaubsbescheinigung)
    • Last pay slip (Gehaltsabrechnung or Lohnabrechnung)
    • Salary tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung)
• Sell or donate your things
• Move out of your apartment
  • End your lease
    Most leases have a 3 month notice period. Your landlord might let you leave sooner if you find a new tenant for your apartment.
  • Clean or repaint the apartment
  • Complete the handover
    • Give your apartment keys back
    • Read your electricity, gas and water meters
    • Sign a handover document (Übergabeprotokoll)
    • Get a Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung
  • Get your deposit back
    Your landlord must return most of your deposit after the handover. They can keep part of your deposit for up to 1 year, until the next Nebenkostenabrechnung.
  • Save your receipts
    Moving costs are tax-deductible. Save your receipts for your tax declaration.
• Deregister your address (Abmeldung)
  It tells the Finanzamt that you should stop paying taxes in Germany. When you deregister, you get an Abmeldebescheinigung. Use it to cancel contracts with a shorter notice period.
  • Change your address
  • Forward your mail
  • Deregister for TV tax
  • Deregister for the dog tax
• Cancel your contracts
  Most contracts have a notice period. When you leave Germany, you can sometimes end contracts sooner. You might need to get an Abmeldebescheinigung first.
  • Health insurance
    When you leave Germany, the notice period is until the end of the month.²⁹ Your insurance usually stops covering you after you leave Germany, but there are exceptions.
  • Utilities
    The notice period is 2 weeks.²² Read the water, gas and electricity meters before you move out. You will get a last invoice based on your measured usage.
  • Phone and internet
    The notice period is 1 month.²³
  • Gym membership
    The notice period is different for each gym. There is sometimes a shorter notice period when you leave Germany.²⁴
  • Public transit pass or Deutschland Ticket
  • Other insurances
    You can sometimes use your insurance policies in another country.
• Disenrol from university
  Your university might refund your tuition fees and semester ticket.¹² Your public health insurance might become more expensive.
  • Get a confirmation of disenrolment¹⁰
  • Get a transcript of records¹¹ (Leistungsübersicht)
• Activate your eID
  You might need it to access online government services. Do this a few weeks before you leave.
• Save important documents
  • Public pension record (Versicherungsverlauf)
    Download it or get it by post. It will arrive at your registered address in around 1 week.
  • Private pension documents
  • Medical records
    • Vaccination pass
    • Prescriptions and list of medications
  • Tax assessments
  • Birth certificates (Geburtsurkunde)
  • Marriage certificates and divorce documents⁵
  • International Driving Permit
  • Documents for your pets
    • Pet passport (EU-Heimtierausweis)³⁷
    • Vaccination history
• Save important information
  • Social security number (Sozialversicherungsnummer)
  • Tax ID (Steueridentifikationsnummer)
• Close your business

Keep your phone number. You might need it for online banking and two-factor authentication.

Close your business

• Tell the Finanzamt (steuerliche Abmeldung)
  It will stop VAT and income tax prepayments.¹⁷ It takes a few weeks.³⁸
• Tell the IHK (Gewerbeabmeldung)
  If you have a Gewerbe, deregister it at the IHK. It will stop Gewerbesteuer payments and IHK membership fees.¹⁸
• Tell the Künstlersozialkasse
  If you are a KSK member, fill this form and email it to them.
• Pay the exit tax
  If you have an AG, UG or GmbH, you must pay an exit tax.¹ You can avoid it, but it’s hard.¹⁴ Ask a tax advisor to help you. Freelancers and sole proprietors rarely need to pay an exit tax.²⁶
• Save important documents
  • Tax assessments for your business
  • Invoices and receipts
  • Proofs of income (Einnahmenüberschussrechnung, betriebswirtschaftliche Auswertung*)
• Save important information
  • Tax number
  • VAT number
  • ELSTER login details

Sole proprietorships are easy to close. If you have an AG, UG or GmbH, it’s much more complicated.⁹ Ask a tax advisor to help you.

If you are part of a Handwerkskammer, Berufskammer or Berufsgenossenschaft, you must also deregister there.¹⁹

After you leave Germany

Checklist

• Get your last bonus
  If you leave a company before the end of the year, you can usually get part of your yearly bonus.⁴
• Get your apartment deposit back
  Your landlord can take up to 12 months to return your deposit. After you get your last Nebenkostenabrechnung, you should get the rest of your deposit back.
• Make a tax declaration
  If you move for work, your relocation costs are tax-deductible. Since you stopped working in the middle of the year, you probably paid too much salary tax. Most people get money back.
• Get your pension payments back
  Public pension insurance costs 9.3% of your income. If you leave the EU, you can usually get that money back.

These tasks are optional:

• Register on ELEFAND
  Register as a German living in another country. It helps Germany reach you if there is a crisis or natural disaster in your new country.
• Close your blocked account
  You might need a Sperrfreigabe from your local German embassy, consulate or Ausländerbehörde.¹³ It might be easier to receive all blocked account payments, then close the account.

What keeps working

These things keep working even if you don’t live in Germany:

• Public pension
  You can receive your German public pension abroad.⁶ If you can’t get a German pension, get your pension payments back.
• Private pension
  You can sometimes contribute to your private pension after you leave Germany. It’s sometimes a good idea, but it depends on how pensions are taxed in your new country.
• Unemployment benefits
  If you move to another EU country, you can still get ALG I for up to 6 months.¹⁵
• German citizenship
  You are still a German citizen after you leave Germany.

What stops working

• Health insurance
  Usually, your German health insurance stops working when you leave Germany. You can sometimes keep your German health insurance.
• Residence permit
  If you leave Germany for “non-temporary reasons”, your residence permit or permanent residence expires.
• Kindergeld
  If you no longer have tax residency in Germany, you stop getting Kindergeld.²
• Elterngeld³

Bank account

Do not close your bank account. You can keep your bank account after you deregister your address and leave Germany.⁸

You need it to get your apartment deposit, last paycheck, yearly bonus, tax return and blocked account payments.²⁵

Use Wise to transfer your money to another country.

If you have a blocked account, you can close it after you leave Germany. You might need a Sperrfreigabe from a German embassy, consulate or Ausländerbehörde.¹³

Health insurance

When you stop working, tell your health insurer. Unemployment changes the cost of your health insurance. If you get unemployment benefits, it pays for your health insurance.

When you disenrol from university, your school tells your health insurer. Your public health insurance might become more expensive without the student discount.

When you leave Germany, your health insurance might stop working:

• If you move to another EU country
  Usually, your German health insurance stops working, and you must get insured in your new country. There are exceptions:
  • If you are retired, your German health insurance still covers you²⁸
  • If you study in another EU country, your German public health insurance still covers you
• If you move outside the EU
  Your public or private health insurance stops working. Your expat health insurance might stay valid.²¹ Check with your insurer.

To cancel your health insurance, you need an Abmeldebescheinigung.⁷ When you leave Germany, the notice period is until the end of the month.²⁹ If you don’t cancel your insurance, your insurer will keep charging you.

If you plan to return to Germany, get an Anwartschaft from your insurer. You pay a monthly fee to pause your health insurance, and resume it later. When you return to Germany, you will get the same tariff and coverage, even if your situation or your health changed. Without an Anwartschaft, it can be hard to find affordable health insurance.¹⁶

Taxes

Income tax

Usually, when you leave Germany, you stop paying income tax in Germany.

You might still have to pay taxes in Germany if…²⁷

• You visit Germany often
• Your family still lives in Germany
• You still have an apartment or a room in Germany
• You conduct most of your business in Germany

For example, if you officially live in Spain, but your family lives in Berlin, you often go to a German doctor, and you own an empty apartment in Berlin, the Finanzamt might still tax you.

Stocks and ETFs

Usually, there is no exit tax on your stocks and ETFs.³⁰ You only pay the capital gains tax when you sell.

You must pay an exit tax if…²⁰

• You invested at least €500,000 in a single ETF or you own at least 1% of a company³²
• and you lived in Germany for 10 years
• and you move out of Germany

Example 1: While you lived in Germany, you invested €500,000 in the iShares MSCI World ETF. You must pay an exit tax.

Example 2: You invest €250,000 in two different ETFs. There is no exit tax, because you did not invest €500,000 in a single ETF.

Example 3: You invest €400,000 in one ETF, and it’s now worth €500,000. There is no exit tax, because the purchase price must be above €500,000.³⁴

Cryptocurrency

There is no exit tax on cryptocurrency.³¹ Leaving Germany has no effect on your personal cryptocurrency investments.

Business

If you own shares in a company, you must pay an exit tax.¹ This includes companies in other countries. You can sometimes avoid the exit tax.¹⁴ Ask your tax advisor to help you, or use the list of tax advisors with exit tax experience.

You must pay an exit tax if…²⁰

• You own at least 1% of a company (AG, UG or GmbH)
• and you lived in Germany for 10 years
• and you stop being a German tax resident

Freelancers and sole proprietors almost never pay an exit tax.²⁶ When you leave Germany, you just close your business. Your business assets (computers, office) might be taxed.³³

How the exit tax works

Residence permit

Your residence permit or permanent residence only expires if…³⁵

• You leave Germany for more than 6 months³⁹
  If you have a Blue Card or a EU permanent residence, you can leave up to 12 months. You can get permission from the Ausländerbehörde to leave for a longer period.
• or you leave Germany for non-temporary reasons
  For example, if you permanently move to Canada. “Non-temporary reasons” usually means that you quit your job, move out of your apartment, deregister your address, and leave Germany.³⁶ A semester or internship abroad is a temporary reason, so it does not make your residence permit expire.

The Abmeldung does not make your residence permit expire.

Your German citizenship does not expire, even if you leave Germany.

Need help?

Where to ask questions

Sources and footnotes

1. eidel.io, winheller.com, Hacker News, wohnsitzausland.com ⤴

2. deutsche-im-ausland.org ⤴

3. deutsche-im-ausland.org ⤴

4. fachanwaltfürarbeitsrecht.net (January 2026) ⤴

5. resartus.de (2025) ⤴

6. grenzenlos-sicher.de (2025) ⤴

7. Feather ⤴

8. Reddit (2025) ⤴

9. Suat Göydeniz (January 2026) ⤴

10. hwr-berlin.de (January 2026) ⤴

11. uni-goettingen.de (January 2026), FU Berlin (January 2026), h-da.de (January 2026) ⤴

12. h-da.de (January 2026), uni-wuerzburg.de (January 2026) ⤴

13. Expatrio (January 2026), ukraine.diplo.de (January 2026), studying-in-germany.org (January 2026) ⤴

14. Suat Göydeniz (January 2026), Hacker News (August 2025) ⤴

15. eu-gleichbehandlungsstelle.de (January 2026), deutsche-im-ausland.org (January 2026), europa.eu (January 2026), BEMA (2018) ⤴

16. Techniker Krankenkasse (March 2025), Techniker Krankenkasse (February 2025), deutsche-im-ausland.org (2016), Feather (2025) ⤴

17. Suat Göydeniz (January 2026), Reddit (2023) ⤴

18. IHK Berlin (January 2026) ⤴

19. gruenderplattform.de (January 2026) ⤴

20. KPMG (2025), eidel.io (August 2025) ⤴

21. Seamus Wolf (January 2026) ⤴

22. deurag.de (January 2026), § 20 Abs. 1 StromGVV, § 20 Abs. 1 GasGVV ⤴

23. § 60 Abs. 2 TKG, Telekom (January 2026), deurag.de (January 2026) ⤴

24. FitX (January 2026), John Reed (January 2026) Reddit (2025), anwalt.org (2025), verbraucherzentrale-brandenburg.de (April 2025) ⤴

25. evz.de (2024) ⤴

26. wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026), wegzugsteuer.info (October 2025) ⤴

27. wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026), wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026), wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026) ⤴

28. wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026), DVKA (August 2025) ⤴

29. krankenkassen.de (January 2026), Rob Schumacher (January 2026) ⤴

30. Suat Göydeniz (January 2026) ⤴

31. wohnsitzausland.com (January 2026), juhn.com (January 2026) ⤴

32. Finanztip community (August 2025), § 19 InvStG ⤴

33. wegzugsteuer.info (October 2025) ⤴

34. eidel.io (August 2025) ⤴

35. § 51 AufenthG, berlin.de (January 2026), stadt.muenchen.de (January 2026), frag-einen-anwalt.de (January 2020), Fiona Macdonald (October 2024), VAB A.51.1.6 (July 2025) ⤴

36. Berlin.de (January 2026), openjur.de, migrationsrecht.net (January 2026) ⤴

37. tasso.net (January 2026) ⤴

38. deregistration.de (January 2026) ⤴

39. § 51 AufenthG, berlin.de (January 2026) ⤴