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Guides for living in Germany

Housing

  • How to find an apartment

    • Housing prices map
    • Housing scams
    • Getting a Schufa

  • Moving in

    • Apartment deposit
    • Getting key doubles
    • Electric bills
    • TV tax
    • Quiet hours
      • Making a noise complaint
    • Review of Conny rent reduction

  • Changing your address

    • Registering your address
    • Getting a Bürgeramt appointment
    • Getting a Meldebescheinigung

  • Moving out

    • Deregistering your address
    • Replacing lost keys
    • Leaving Germany
      • Getting a pension refund

Work

  • How to find a job

    • Salaries in Germany
    • The probation period
    • What does "m/w/d" mean?

  • Changing or losing your job

    • Job notice periods
    • Unemployment benefits
    • Health insurance when unemployed

  • Employee rights

    • Vacations
    • Sick leave
    • Sabbatical leave
    • Educational leave

Visas and immigration

  • Getting a residence permit

    • Work visa
    • Blue Card
    • Permanent residence
    • Freelance visa
      • Getting letters of intent
      • Renewing a freelance visa
    • Fiktionsbescheinigung
    • The Zusatzblatt
    • Activating your eID

  • Berlin immigration office

    • Immigration office wait times

Living in Germany

  • Visiting Berlin

    • German power sockets

  • German culture

    • Learning German
    • Tipping
    • Recycling
      • Returning empty bottles
      • Getting rid of a Christmas tree
    • Public holidays

  • Mailing letters

    • Writing German addresses
    • Receiving your packages

  • Dialling German phone numbers

    • Emergency numbers

  • German laws

    • Photography laws
    • Streaming and torrenting movies

  • Other guides

    • Two kinds of Netto
    • Worms in trees
    • German fonts
    • Movies set in Berlin

Personal finance

  • Cost of living

    • Saving money

  • Banking

    • Best German banks
    • N26 review
    • Kontist review
    • Degiro review
    • Exchanging coins

  • Taxes

    • English-speaking tax advisors
      • Steuerberater or Buchhalter?
    • Tax software
    • Tax ID, tax number, VAT number
    • Sozialversicherungsnummer
    • Creating an ELSTER account
    • Getting a Bescheinigung in Steuersachen

  • Health insurance

    • For a visa application
    • For employees
    • For students
    • For freelancers
      • Künstlersozialkasse
    • For apprentices
    • Ottonova review
    • Techniker Krankenkasse review

  • Insurance

    • Liability insurance
    • Legal insurance

Family, friends and pets

  • Making friends

  • Getting married

  • Finding a Kita

    • Getting a Kitagutschein

  • Dog ownership

    • English-speaking veterinarians
    • Burying a pet

Health

  • English-speaking doctors

    • GPs
    • Psychiatrists
    • Psychotherapists
    • Dentists
    • Gynaecologists

  • Healthcare

    • HIV and STI testing
    • ADHD diagnosis
    • Hay fever
    • Eyeglasses
    • Registering as an organ donor

Getting around

  • Public transit

    • Buying a Deutschland Ticket
    • Paying a BVG fine
    • Cancelling a BVG subscription

  • Buying and riding a bicycle

  • Buying a car

    • Car insurance
    • Cost of having a car
    • Getting an International Driving Permit
    • Parking motorcycles on the sidewalk

  • Getting a driving licence

    • Converting a foreign driving licence
    • English-speaking driving schools

Where to find...

  • What is open on Sundays?

  • Where to buy, sell and donate things

    • Donating clothes

  • Where to buy what

    • Passport photos
    • Foreign cooking ingredients
      • American pizza
    • Motorcycle gear
    • Cannabis
      • Is cannabis legal?

  • Finding lost things

  • Watching movies in English

  • English-speaking hair salons

  • 24-hour gyms

Self-employment

  • How to start a business

    • Registering your business
      • Being a Kleinunternehmer
      • Freiberufler or Gewerbe?
      • The Gewerbeanmeldung
      • Getting a Handelsregisternummer
    • Trade tax
    • VAT
    • Running a website
    • Freelance developer salaries

Getting help

  • Where to get help

    • Relocation consultants
    • English-speaking lawyers

Newest guides

  1. How to leave Germany January 21, 2026

  2. How to get a Kitagutschein December 5, 2025

  3. How to find a Kita in Berlin How to find a Kita December 5, 2025

  4. German health insurance when unemployed Health insurance when unemployed June 2, 2025

  5. German health insurance for freelancers Health insurance for freelancers June 2, 2025

  6. German health insurance for students Health insurance for students June 2, 2025

  7. German health insurance for employees Health insurance for employees June 2, 2025

  8. German health insurance for Azubis Health insurance for Azubis June 2, 2025

  9. How to read your Zusatzblatt How to read your Zusatzblatt December 17, 2024

  10. How the Berlin immigration office works How the immigration office works December 17, 2024

Recent updates

  1. What is legal insurance? Is it worth it? What is legal insurance? March 31, 2026

  2. Degiro review: there are better options Review of Degiro March 31, 2026

  3. How to find an apartment in Berlin How to find an apartment March 31, 2026

  4. How to start a business in Germany How to start a business March 31, 2026

  5. How to apply for a German work visa How to get a work visa March 31, 2026

  6. My review of Kontist: it's not worth it Review of Kontist March 31, 2026

  7. Steuerberater or Buchhalter: what's the difference? Steuerberater or Buchhalter? March 31, 2026

  8. Where to get passport photos in Berlin Where to get passport photos March 31, 2026

  9. How to apply for a German Blue Card How to get a Blue Card March 31, 2026

  10. Review of Conny, the rent reduction service Review of Conny rent reduction March 31, 2026

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