So you want to import your car to Germany. Oh dear, where do I start? This has been the longest, most exhausting, time consuming, and the only (so far) ridiculous bureaucracy-related operation we had to perform in Germany. Here I summarize the sequence of long operations that you need to perform. All of them require the previous one to be completed. Buy a green emission decal. Begin the German...

In Germania un conto corrente viene utilizzato molto più che in Italia. Solo per fare un esempio, i centri di revisione e di registrazione veicoli richiedono un mandato SEPA. Consiglio vivamente di tentare di aprire un conto corrente in banca (Girokonto) appena troverai un appartamento, ancora prima di traslocare. In questo post presumo che cercherai di aprire un conto corrente “fisico” (non...

Germany relies on banks much more than Italy. I strongly advise you to attempt to open a bank account (Girokonto) as soon as you find a flat, before relocating to Germany. Here I assume that you will look for a non online-only bank account. I wrote attempt to open an account because most of the banks expect you to have a German residence and address when you open a bank account. That said, most...

La dichiarazione di residenza Registrare la propria residenza (Anmeldung) é più semplice che in Italia. Il nome dell’ufficio pubblico non é però lo stesso in tutte le città tedesche. Per esempio, la Anmeldung a Stoccarda può essere fatta in un qualsiasi Burgerbüro, simili ai nostri centri civici, a prescindere da dove si viva nella città. É importante ricordare che la Anmeldung vada fatta entro...

The residency declaration Registering your new residency (Anmeldung) is quite straightforward. The name of the public office is not the same in every German city. For example, the Anmeldung for Stuttgart can be done in any Burgerbüro (no matter where you live in the city). Please note that you should perform the Anmeldung within two weeks from your relocation. The actual form is rather simple, as...

Trovare un appartamento Non é sempre semplice trovare un appartamento nelle grandi città della Germania. Nel nostro caso, abbiamo dovuto iniziare le ricerche circa 4 mesi prima del trasloco. Il modo più comune per cercare appartamenti in Germania é attraversi siti Web specializzati. La cosa mi ha sorpreso non poco, visto che in Italia é comune recarsi in agenzie immobiliari per cercare...

Finding the flat Finding a flat in big cities is not always easy. In our case we had to start searching about 4 months before the relocation. The most common way to look for a flat is through websites. I was surprised at first, as in Italy it is still common to call real estate agencies and look for newspaper adverts. However, the majority of private individuals and most of the real estate...

I have recently relocated to Stuttgart, Germany with my wife. I will start working at the University of Stuttgart in May as a postdoc. Looking forward to the new life! Before relocating, I attempted to collect as much information as possible in order to face Germany’s infamous bureaucracy. Much useful information is present on the Web. However, I could not find all the fine details that...