Moving to Germany: your first 90 days

Can you just move to Germany?

It depends on your passport.

EU citizens have the right to enter and live in Germany as employees, as self-employed people, as job seekers for a limited time and, under conditions, as people with enough means to support themselves (Freedom of Movement Act, section 2). You do not apply for a visa. Your main formality is registering your address.

Citizens of other countries need a residence title to enter and stay, unless EU law or an agreement says otherwise (Residence Act, section 4). The law knows four main titles: the visa, the residence permit, the EU Blue Card and the settlement permit. If you come for a job, the title has to allow work. The Federal Foreign Office runs the visa service and an online portal for applications (Federal Foreign Office, read 7 Oct 2026).

There is one shortcut. Citizens of Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States may enter without a visa even for a stay that is not short. A residence title they need has to be applied for within 90 days of entry (Residence Ordinance, section 41). That is not the same as permission to work, so ask the foreigners authority before you start a job.

How many people take the work route? The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees counted about 134,500 first work-related residence permits in 2025, up from about 120,200 in 2024, including 34,510 EU Blue Cards, down from 42,620 (BAMF monitoring report, 29 Sep 2026). Ask your employer which of the steps it handles for you.

Who may help with a permit?

A permit file can raise legal questions. Under the Legal Services Act, legal services in a single case need a lawyer or another permitted provider (RDG section 3). Other businesses may give legal help only when it belongs to their usual job profile as an ancillary service (RDG section 5). So an agency can organise documents and come to the appointment with you. For legal advice it should name the lawyer. Archer Relocation, for example, lists paperwork organisation and a visit to the foreigners office in its immigration package, with legal advice through a partner lawyer (Archer, read 7 Oct 2026).

What do you do in the first two weeks?

Register your address. The law gives you two weeks from the day you move in (BMG section 17), and you need your landlord’s confirmation of move-in to do it. The documents, the fines and the Berlin process are in our guide to registering your address in Germany.

Registration sets other things in motion:

• Tax ID. Registration offices pass each registered resident to the Federal Central Tax Office, which assigns the identification number (AO section 139b). Your employer needs the number for wage tax.
• Broadcasting fee. The Beitragsservice charges EUR 18.36 a month for each flat, whatever the number of residents (rundfunkbeitrag.de, read 7 Oct 2026).
• Bank account. Any consumer with lawful residence in the EU has a right to a basic payment account (ZKG section 31), so a bank cannot simply turn you away because you are new.

The full list of admin steps, with what an agency can do for you, is in settling-in services in Germany.

How hard is it to find a flat in Munich, Berlin or Frankfurt?

Hard in two of the three, and the numbers show why. The immowelt Mietkompass tracks asking rents for existing flats on its portal. On 1 October 2026 it gave these figures, with the change since 1 January 2026 (immowelt, 1 Oct 2026):

City	Rent per m2	Since 1 Jan
Munich	EUR 21.65	+2.8%
Frankfurt	EUR 17.12	+4.7%
Berlin	EUR 14.63	+1.8%
Germany, average	EUR 10.83	+2.1%

The second number is vacancy. The CBRE-empirica index counted a market-active vacancy rate of 0.1% in Munich and in Frankfurt at the end of 2024, against 2.2% for Germany as a whole (empirica regio, 16 Dec 2025). It gave no figure for Berlin. At 0.1%, almost nothing stands empty at any moment.

The City of Munich’s own advice is to begin the search as soon as possible and, if you can, to be in Munich when you start (City of Munich, read 7 Oct 2026). The rules on deposit, rent brake and broker fees are in our guide to renting a flat in Germany. How to run the search yourself or with an agency is in how to find an apartment in Germany.

Do you need German health insurance from day one?

Yes, in the sense that the duty starts when you live in Germany: every person with a residence must hold health insurance with an insurer licensed in Germany (VVG section 193). Employees are in the statutory system by law unless they earn more than EUR 77,400 a year in 2026, which lets them choose private cover (Social Insurance Figures Regulation 2026, section 2). Ask your employer to start your cover on your first day of work. Both routes, the contribution rate and the surcharge for taking cover late are in our guide to health insurance in Germany.

What does the move cost?

We found no official source for a total budget, so here are the parts we can source.

• Rent. See the table above. Add the deposit, which may be up to three months of cold rent.
• Broadcasting fee. EUR 18.36 a month per flat.
• Relocation agency. Published private-client home-search packages we read on 7 October 2026 ran from EUR 990 to EUR 2,790. Prices, what they include and who pays are in what a relocation agency costs in Germany.

Flights, shipping and a removal firm are outside this guide. A removal firm is not a relocation agency. The difference is explained in how to choose a relocation agency in Germany.

Where can a relocation agency help, and where not?

An agency does tasks for you. It does not change the rules or the market.

• Home search. It shortlists flats, books viewings, comes along and helps with the application and the lease. It cannot promise you a flat in a market with 0.1% vacancy.
• Registration and the admin steps. Many agencies sell this as a package. In Berlin you may send someone to the registration appointment with a power of attorney and the completed form, signed by you (Berlin service portal, read 7 Oct 2026). Online registration there needs a BundID account and an activated eID, and only family members can act for each other.
• Permits. Organisation, yes. Legal advice only through a lawyer, as above.
• School search. Agencies sell it per child. Prices are in the cost guide.

When does it pay off? When you have a fixed start date, little time to search, no German and a flat to find in Munich or Frankfurt. When does it not? When your employer already provides a relocation service, or when you are an EU citizen with weeks to search on the ground. Ask your employer about its relocation policy before you book anything yourself.

A 90-day plan

1. Before you move. Check the permit route for your passport. Start the flat search. Ask your employer what it covers.
2. Day 1. Collect the keys and the landlord’s signed confirmation of move-in. Photograph it.
3. Days 1 to 14. Register your address. Book the appointment early, because the deadline does not move.
4. Weeks 2 to 4. Give your employer your tax ID once it arrives. Confirm your health insurance. Open a bank account. Sort the broadcasting fee for your flat; the Beitragsservice site links to its registration forms.
5. Month 2. Sort school or childcare places for children. Set up internet and electricity if your landlord did not.
6. Month 3. If you hold a driving licence from outside the EU or EEA, note that it entitles you to drive in Germany for six months after you take up residence (FeV section 29). Plan the exchange well before that. EU and EEA licences stay valid (FeV section 28).

Is now a good time to move to Germany?

We do not give opinions on that, only numbers. Net migration was 235,000 in 2025 (1,479,944 arrivals, 1,244,944 departures), down from 430,183 in 2024 (Destatis, read 7 Oct 2026). Asking rents for existing flats rose 2.1% across Germany between 1 January and 1 October 2026, and 4.7% in Frankfurt. Lower net migration in 2025 came with rising asking rents, so plan for a tight market in the big cities whatever the year.

What we could not source

We did not find official current processing times for residence permits or appointment waits at registration offices, so this guide gives none. We found no source on how often employers pay for relocation help or what they pay. We did not research moving pets, taxes beyond the tax ID, or the Opportunity Card. If one of these is your question, ask your employer, the foreigners authority or an agency in your city.

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