Landing Checklist

• 1Check your passport is valid for 6+ months
• 2Apply for the visa / Blue Card / student visa
• 3Open a Sperrkonto blocked account (student / job-seeker visa)
• 4Buy travel insurance (covers the gap until your German health insurance starts)
• 5Get your documents translated and certified
• 6Research housing (short-term / WG shared flat / student dorm)
• 7Sort out roaming / buy an eSIM
• 8Install the essential apps and set up a VPN
• 9Get passport photos (digital + 6 prints)

Optional

• Check your degree is recognised (anabin lookup)

• 10Move in and collect the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung
• 11Set up your monthly Sperrkonto release (students)
• 12Get health insuranceAs soon as you can
• 13Book your Anmeldung appointment (as early as possible)
• 14Open a German bank account
• 15Learn how German post works (check your mailbox daily!)

Optional

• Buy a prepaid SIM (passport only)
• Buy the D-Ticket monthly transport pass

• 16Go to your Anmeldung (collect the Meldebescheinigung)
• 17Set up SEPA direct debits
• 18Register with a Hausarzt (family doctor)
• 19Rundfunkbeitrag broadcasting fee
• 20Confirm your Steuer-ID letter arrived2–4 weeks after Anmeldung
• 21Confirm your eGK insurance card arrived1–2 weeks after signing up

Optional

• Buy liability insurance (Haftpflichtversicherung)
• Buy legal insurance (Rechtsschutzversicherung)

• 22Find permanent housing (if you are still in a short let)
• 23Apply for your Sozialversicherungsnummer (employees)
• 24Prepare your visa extension (3 months before expiry)

Optional

• Convert your driving licence
• Sign a postpaid mobile contract
• Sign electricity / internet contracts
• Get your Schufa credit report (needed for flat hunting)

Daily life

• Guide to daily life
• Getting around
• Rules for living with neighbours
• Seeing a doctor, start to finish
• Guide to eating out
• Tipping culture
• Public holidays
• Sorting your rubbish
• Contracts (cooling-off periods and cancellation)
• German films worth watching
• Things to do — Vereine, sport, the outdoors

Language & integration

• Guide to learning German
• Making friends and fitting in
• Mental health resources
• Germany's unwritten rules

Money matters

• Filing your tax return (average refund €1,000+)
• Working rules (the 120-day student limit)
• Schufa credit reports explained
• The cost of living in Germany
• Pension refunds (when you leave Germany)
• Understanding unemployment benefit
• Going self-employed — Freiberufler vs Gewerbe

Housing & insurance, deeper

• Moving out and moving on
• All five insurances, explained

• File your tax return each year (average refund €1,000+)By 31 July each year
• Check your Schufa once a year (free)Every year