Newcomer Essentials

We picked the 10 services you cannot live in Germany without and put them in the order you will need them after landing. Work down the list and you save the 20+ hours of searching and comparing you would otherwise do yourself.

See the full list Want the whole procedure? See the Landing Pack

The list is free · contains affiliate links · your price is unaffected

Why you need it

Every one of these you would otherwise research from scratch

The things you have to do after landing depend on each other: no phone number, no bank account; no insurance, no Anmeldung; no address, no insurance. Searching and comparing them one at a time costs you a week.

You cannot tell who will take you

Plenty of German services ask for a credit history or German-language paperwork, and someone who has just arrived cannot clear the first step.

Wrong order means starting over

What you can do next depends on what you have already done. Get the order backwards and you wait for the next appointment.

The default plan is the expensive one

Not comparing electricity, internet and mobile plans routinely costs a few hundred euros a year.

The full list

In order — just work down it

We have used every service here ourselves and checked that it suits Chinese people newly arrived in Germany. Prices and alternatives are on each card.

Days 1–2 · phone + bank

Lebara

SIM card · SIM-Karte

Essential

A SIM card built for migrants — cheap international calls, sold in supermarkets and online. A German mobile number is the first thing to sort out after you land, because every sign-up after it asks for one.

Monthly: from €7.99 (5GB included)
Why it works: International call plans · no contract · works out of the box
Alternative: Fraenk (€10/month, online only)

Lebara logo

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

N26

Bank account · Bankkonto

Free to open

Germany's most popular digital bank. The whole account opening happens online in about 10 minutes, and the interface is in English. It is where your salary lands, your rent leaves and your insurance is debited. Nothing in Germany works without a German bank account.

Monthly: €0 (standard plan is free)
Opening time: 10 minutes · video verification
You need: Passport + a German address

N26 logo

Open an N26 account

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

Days 3–4 · insurance

Feather

Insurance in one place · Versicherung

Essential

An insurance platform built for foreigners living in Germany — English interface, everything handled online. One place for health insurance (they enrol you with a public insurer such as TK), liability cover and home contents. German law requires health insurance, and without it you cannot complete your Anmeldung.

Liability cover: from €3.58/month
Health insurance: Enrols you in public cover (GKV)
Language: All English · fast support

Feather logo

Get insured with Feather

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

Days 5–7 · housing + internet

Wunderflats

Furnished short lets · Möblierte Wohnung

Paid

A platform for furnished flats let for one to six months — housing that bridges the gap before you look for somewhere permanent. Every listing can be used for your Anmeldung (residence registration).

Price: Varies by city and flat type
Why it works: Works for Anmeldung · furnished · English interface
Minimum stay: 1 month

Wunderflats logo

Browse flats on Wunderflats

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

CHECK24

Comparison site · Vergleichsportal

Free to compare

Germany's largest comparison site — electricity, internet, mobile contracts and insurance, all in one place. The first thing to do after moving in: compare electricity and internet plans on CHECK24, which usually comes out 20-30% below the default provider.

Compares: Electricity · internet · mobile · insurance · gas
Typical saving: €100-300 a year on electricity
Language: Mostly German (use your browser's translation)

CHECK24 logo

Compare on CHECK24

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

Week 2 · language + tools

Lingoda

German classes online · Deutschkurs

Paid

Online German lessons with real teachers — small groups or one to one, available around the clock. Far more flexible than an in-person language school, and cheaper. A1 through C1. Best suited to people working or studying full time.

Price: from €70/month (8 group lessons)
Why it works: Real teachers · flexible hours · certificates
Alternative: Babbel (self-study app, €6.99/month)

Lingoda logo

Enrol with LingodaSelf-study with Babbel

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

NordVPN

VPN

Paid

Chinese apps used from Germany — WeChat video, Bilibili, iQIYI, NetEase Cloud Music — regularly run into region locks. NordVPN lets you switch to a node in China or another country. It also protects your privacy on public WiFi.

Price: ~€3.49/month (2-year plan)
Devices: Phone + laptop + tablet at the same time
Alternative: Surfshark (cheaper)

NordVPN logo

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

Months 1–2 · fully settled

Taxfix

Tax filing app · Steuererklärung

Paid

A question-and-answer flow that walks you through a German tax return — no German tax law to learn and no Steuerberater to hire. There is an English version, tuned for foreigners. The average refund in Germany is €1,000+, and the first year is especially worth filing.

Price: €39.99 (charged only if the refund goes through)
Language: English + German
Average refund: €1,000+

Taxfix logo

File with Taxfix

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

Expatrio

Blocked account · Sperrkonto

Essential for students

A German student visa requires a Sperrkonto (blocked account). Expatrio is the platform most popular with Chinese students — Chinese-speaking support, online account opening, and student health insurance arranged in the same flow.

Setup fee: €49
Amount to deposit: €11,904 (2026 rate)
Also covers: Student health insurance in the same flow

Expatrio logo

Open an account with Expatrio

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

LemFi

Money home · Geld nach China

Essential for Chinese residents

An international transfer app built for the Chinese community — money from Germany to China at a good rate, with low fees and a simple flow. Much faster than a bank transfer, and widely used among Chinese residents in Germany.

Fees: Lower than a traditional bank
Speed: Same day at best
Alternative: Wise (general international transfers) · WorldRemit

LemFi logo

Referral link pending

* Affiliate link · signing up through it does not change your price, and we receive a small commission

What comes next

The services are picked; someone still has to write the procedure

This list answers which one to use. The rest — how to actually do it — is in the Landing Pack: what documents each procedure needs, which office handles it, how long a decision takes, and which step gets sent back most often.

Landing Pack · 56 chapters

The full procedure for admin, housing, insurance, daily life, language and finances.

Job Pack · 47 chapters

From CV and interviews to the office rules and the right moment to ask for a raise.

0 chapters free to read

No payment and no email address needed — read the content first, then decide.

Common questions

About this list

Does the list cost anything?

The list itself is free. Some of the services on it are free (banking, comparison sites) and some are paid (language classes, tax software). Every price is on the card, so you pick what you need.

Why these 10?

They are services we have used ourselves in Germany. The bar was: a Chinese person can actually get signed up, the interface is in English or Chinese, and it does not require a German credit history first.

Do affiliate links change my price?

No. Signing up through a link costs exactly what it costs on the provider's own site. We receive a small commission from the provider, which pays for keeping the content up to date.

Do I have to follow the order?

We recommend it. A phone number and a bank account are the precondition for everything after them, you cannot complete your Anmeldung without insurance, and housing depends on the steps before it.

How is the Landing Pack different from this list?

This list tells you which service to use. The Landing Pack tells you the full procedure for each task — which office, which documents, and how long the decision takes.

Everything you need to get set up, picked in one go.

The list is free — just work down it in order. When you want the full procedure behind each step, the Landing Pack has it.

Back to the list About the Landing Pack

The list is free · contains affiliate links · signing up through them does not change your price