Moving to Germany for Work: Your First 90 Days
Moving to Germany for work, in order: documents before the flight, registration and tax ID in week one, the first weeks at work and the 90-day review.
Moving to Germany for work goes better in a fixed order: the permit and the contract before the flight, the address registration in the first two weeks, the tax ID and health insurance before the first payslip, and then a deliberate 90-day review of the job itself. I moved to Germany at 14 without a word of German, built a career there and later coached more than 2,000 adults through the same move. This is the checklist I wish someone had handed my family, with the law behind each deadline as of October 2026.
The facts come from gesetze-im-internet.de and from my own guides on this site; the opinions are mine.
Before the flight
The permit. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need none. Everyone else needs a permit that matches the plan: the EU Blue Card for graduates with a contract above the salary threshold, a skilled-worker permit for vocational qualifications, or the Opportunity Card to search on site for up to a year. Apply at the German mission in your country unless you already hold a permit that allows the switch inside Germany.
The contract. Get it in writing before you move, with the gross annual salary, the start date and the job title. German employers owe you the essential terms in writing anyway (Section 2 NachwG (opens in a new tab)), but a signed contract before the flight is what the visa officer and the landlord want to see.
The documents. Passport, degree and vocational certificates with German or English translations, references from former employers, marriage and birth certificates if family comes with you, and a few passport photos. Start recognition of a foreign qualification now if your profession needs it; the procedure takes longer than the flight.
The flat. Most registration offices want a landlord's confirmation of move-in (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung), so a short-term rental with that paper beats a hotel for the first month.
Week 1 to 2: registration
Section 17 of the Federal Registration Act (opens in a new tab) gives you two weeks from moving in to register your address with the Meldebehörde: "innerhalb von zwei Wochen nach dem Einzug". Book the appointment before you land; in large cities the slots go fast. Bring the passport, the landlord's confirmation and, if applicable, the family's documents.
The registration opens the rest. The tax administration issues your tax identification number by post after it, once per person for life (Section 139b of the Fiscal Code (opens in a new tab)). Banks ask for the registration certificate. The foreigners authority uses the registered address for your permit card.
Week 2 to 4: money, insurance, the first payslip
Health insurance. Employees are compulsorily insured in statutory health insurance (Section 5 of the Social Code V (opens in a new tab)). You pick the insurer; your employer registers you. Choose before day one, because the employer needs the insurer's name for the payroll.
Bank account. Open it as soon as you hold the registration certificate. Salary, rent and insurance all run on direct debit.
Tax class. Your first payslip shows a tax class. Married couples choose a combination; a missing tax ID puts you in class VI, the most expensive one, until the number is on file. My guide to German tax classes explains the classes and how to read the payslip.
The written terms. By your first working day your employer must hand you the names and addresses of both sides, the pay with every component listed separately, and the working time; by day seven the start date, place of work, job description and probation period; and within a month the rest, including holiday and the notice procedure. Check the pay line against the contract and the permit threshold on that first day.
The first weeks at work
The paperwork is the easy part. The workplace is where the move succeeds or fails, and the rules are mostly unwritten. Three guides cover the written ones: culture shock in Germany on what newcomers find hardest, notice periods, probation and working hours on the contract, and sick leave in Germany on what to do the first morning you wake up ill. Outside the office, the Ordnungsamt guide lists the everyday rules and fines that catch newcomers.
Inside the office, four habits carry you through the probation period:
- Arrive on time and leave on time. Both are noticed. Staying late reads as poor planning, not commitment.
- Ask one precise question a day. German colleagues answer precise questions well and vague ones badly.
- Write things down. Agreements made in a meeting get confirmed by email. Do the same.
- Say what you do not know. Probation is for finding gaps. A colleague who hides one looks worse at month three than one who named it at week two.
And the language. Even where the working language is English, German at the coffee machine changes how the team treats you. I told Aliaksei Korzh on CHANGES episode 1, from 1:10:36 (opens in a new tab) what I learned at 14: "you don't need to be perfect, but at least to show others that, okay, I'm trying to respect your culture, that I think everything changes."
The 90-day review
At the end of the third month, sit down with three questions, before your manager does the same in the probation meeting:
- Does the job match the contract? Pay, hours, the actual tasks. If not, raise it now, in writing, while the probation period gives both sides an easy exit.
- What have you learned that you could not have learned at home? If the answer is nothing, the move is not yet paying for itself. Ask for the project or the responsibility that would change that.
- Who knows you? Count the colleagues who would answer your message on a Sunday. Fewer than three means your first quarter went into tasks and none into people.
Write the answers down. At month six, read them again.
What I would do differently
My family's first year in Germany was poorer and lonelier than it needed to be. On CHANGES episode 3, from 52:38 (opens in a new tab), I told Greg Grigoriev what it looked like: "So I got one euro a day, that was my allowance for food, for everything." Two things would have changed it. Earlier German: every month of delay cost a month of belonging. And an earlier network: one adult who knew the system would have saved us a year of guessing.
Aliaksei's move went the other way round. He told me on episode 1, from 5:06 (opens in a new tab): "We came here for two months. We had no goal to stay here." He tested the routine before he committed, and the routine won. Whichever way you arrive, with a plan or by accident, the first 90 days decide whether the place becomes home.
If your move is now, and you want the plan built around your contract, your permit and your German level, that is what I do in career change coaching, in English, German, Lithuanian or Russian. Book a call and tell me your start date. We work backwards from it.
Questions and answers
What do I need before moving to Germany for work?
A permit that allows the job, an employment contract or binding offer, a passport valid for the stay, your degree and vocational certificates with translations, and proof of health insurance for the first days. If you come from outside the EU, the EU Blue Card or a skilled-worker permit needs the contract; the Opportunity Card lets you search on site.
How soon do I have to register my address in Germany?
Within two weeks of moving in, at the local registration office (Meldebehörde), under Section 17 of the Federal Registration Act. You need the landlord's confirmation of move-in. The registration is the key to the tax ID, a bank account and most other paperwork.
How do I get a German tax ID?
You do not apply for it. After the address registration, the tax administration issues your tax identification number by post, once per person for life, under Section 139b of the Fiscal Code. Give it to your employer as soon as it arrives; without it you are taxed in class VI until the number is on file.
Do I need health insurance when I move to Germany for a job?
Yes. Employees are compulsorily insured in statutory health insurance under Section 5 of the Social Code V. Your employer registers you, but you choose the insurer. Pick one before the first working day so the registration goes through on time.
What should I expect in the first 90 days at a German job?
A written set of essential terms from your employer, a probation period in most contracts, direct feedback, and a lot of unwritten rules around hours, breaks, sick notes and how much to share. My guides to culture shock, notice periods and tax classes cover the written ones; the 90-day review in this post covers the rest.
Work with me: Career and business coaching