Welcome in Bremen!

Currently, the conditions for entering Germany and Bremen are changing very rapidly due to the Corona pandemic.

Current information on entering Bremen during the Corona pandemic and on quarantine regulations can be found on the bremen.de website. The information is also available in other languages.

1. Register at the Bürgeramt (Citizen Centre)
2.  Get all your documents (residence permit, etc.)
3. Sign up for a health insurance
4. Open a bank account

Register at the Bürgeramt (Citizen Centre): To register at the Bürgeramt, you need to be a resident of Bremen. This means you must live in a flat or house in Bremen.

Please make an appointment at the Bürgeramt (+49 421 115) to register.

When you go to the appointment, you will need to bring these documents with you:

– A passport or identity card (“proof of identity”).

– The completed housing registration form.

– A confirmation from your landlord. Ask your landlord to fill out this confirmation for you.

Once you have registered in Bremen, you will receive a tax identification number by post. Keep this number safe. You will need it, for example, if you ever want to file a tax return.

Bürgeramt
Pelzer Straße 40
28195 Bremen
Tel.: +49 421 115

You will receive the residence document that you applied for beforehand. With the residence document, you can also return to Germany after you visited your home country for a while. You remain a citizen of your home country.

You can get the residence document at the Migration Office:

Migrationsamt
Stresemannstraße 48
28207 Bremen
Tel.: +49 421 36188630

Your children can usually come with you if they are not older than 16 years. For this, you need permission from your spouse. If your child is older than 16 years, they must be able to speak German at C1 level or have completed an education/apprenticeship.

Your spouse can only move to Germany with you when your professional qualification has been fully recognised.

However, if your spouse also comes to Germany with a work visa, they can enter Germany directly.

Bus and tram

A single ticket for the bus and tram in Bremen costs €2.85. With this ticket you can travel in one direction to your final destination within three hours. For the way back you have to buy a new ticket. You can buy the ticket from the driver at the front of the bus or from a machine in the tram.

Taxi

A taxi always costs 3,90€ basic fee. In addition, you pay a fee per kilometre.

Three people can travel in one taxi. There are also large-capacity taxis for about seven people, in which case you pay an additional €7.00.

Example of a taxi:

You want to go from Bremen main station to your home in Vahr? Then one journey costs 3.90€ basic charge and an additional 17.60€ for about eight kilometres. That’s a total of 21.50€. A taxi is either waiting at a taxi rank or you call a taxi company and they will send a taxi to your location.

The first registrations at the citizens’ registration office, banks and insurance companies are made together as a group with the help of the coordination.

If you have any questions, you can always ask your contact person.

A flat has a heater in every room. Moreover, there is always a bathroom with a toilet and a shower or bath tub. You will have warm and cold water in the flat.

There is only sometimes a built-in kitchen with electrical appliances. If there is no kitchen furniture and electrical appliances, you have to buy them yourself. You can buy second-hand kitchen furniture, for example, on Schwarze Brett Bremen .

There is almost never an air-conditioner in the flat. Your tenancy agreement states what belongs to the flat and what does not.

There is rarely any furniture in the flats. This means that you will have to buy furniture yourself.

The flats do not always have flooring either. Sometimes you have to buy flooring and install it yourself.

Your tenancy agreement states whether or not water and electricity are included in the incidental rental costs. Water is often included in the service charges. If you have to take care of water yourself, sign a contract with a utility company. Electricity is usually not included in the service charges. Find out which electricity provider is best for you and sign a contract.

You can get internet in every flat. For this, you have to make a contract. There are various shops where you can make a contract. (For example, SWB, Telekom or Vodafone.) You can also sign a contract online.

Read your tenancy agreement carefully. The tenancy agreement contains all the important information about the size, furniture, rules and costs of the flat. If you have any problems or questions, please contact a counselling centre. Do not sign anything you do not understand!

The handover takes place before you move into the flat. You will meet with your landlord or the janitor. At the handover, everything that is broken in the flat is written down. Keep the copy of the handover until you move out again. You can use it to prove if things were broken beforehand.

If you break someone else’s belongings, the liability insurance can pay for the damage on your behalf.

With the household insurance, you assure your property in your home. The insurance pays for example if your property is damaged by fire or if something is stolen.

Both insurances are private insurances. This means that they are voluntary. You can therefore decide for yourself whether you need them or not. If would like to have one of the insurances you need to pay a monthly fee. You can buy private insurance from different insurance companies.

If you are looking for an insurance, inform yourself exactly about it terms; in which cases you would be insured and in which cases you would not be insured.

Sometimes it is mandatory to have liability insurance or homeowner’s insurance if you rent an apartment. However, this must then be stated in your rental contract.

Almost every house has a so-called house rule. The house rules define the rules for the coexistence of all residents. For example, a house rule states whether and how often you have to clean the stairwell.

The house rules are different in every apartment building. In general, there is a mandatory time when you have to be quiet from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (Nachtruhe). When you sign the lease, you agree to the house rules.

Open the windows (for ventilation) in your apartment regularly. It is best to open all windows twice a day for five minutes (shock ventilation). This will regulate the humidity in your apartment and prevent mould from forming. This is very important! Do not dry your laundry in the apartment, but ask your landlord if there is an extra room in the house for this purpose.

The BBU has summarised further information on housing in the „Housing Guide for Refugees“.

In Germany, there are two different types of sockets. Type C or type F socket.

When entering the country, remember to bring a suitable adapter so that you can use your devices. In European countries, the mains voltage is 230 volts.

The line voltage in Mexico (127 V) is lower than in Germany (230 V). If you want to use appliances from Mexico in Germany, you sometimes need a voltage converter. Be especially careful with appliances like watches and shavers. To be sure, check the label on the appliance. Some appliances never need a voltage transformer. Electrical appliances with the label ‘INPUT: 100-240V, 50/60 Hz’ are suitable for all countries in the world. This is common with chargers for mobile phones, tablets/laptops, photo cameras, toothbrushes, etc.

A deposit is a financial security for the landlord which you have to pay when you move into a flat. You get the deposit back when you move out and everything is undamaged. As a rule, the deposit is as expensive as two or three months’ rent.

In Germany, many people live in a rented apartment or house.

To rent a flat, you usually need to have an employment contract. Often you also have to pay a deposit to the landlord.

To buy a house, you need equity and a permanent employment contract. You will then have to apply for a loan at a bank. Everything else will be explained to you there.

You can find more information on buying a house here.

Your flat is furnished and has everything you need in order to get started. There are bed linen, dishes, cutlery and towels. Heating is always included in Germany, you don’t need air conditioning.

The following things will be in your flat:

• Bed
• Table and chairs
• Kitchen – cooking utensils
• Cupboard/wardrobe

In Germany, waste is separated.

There are the following bins/bags:

• Blue bin – paper waste
• Brown bin – organic waste, food waste
• Yellow sack/ yellow bin – packaging waste
• Black bin – residual waste, everything that does not belong in the other bins.

In some flats you have your own waste bin. In order for your rubbish to be collected, you have to put the bin out on the street yourself. You can check the Bremer Abfallkalender to see when the rubbish is collected from the bins in your street.

In other flats there are large rubbish containers into which you can throw your rubbish.

Glass and clothes do not belong in the rubbish bins. There are containers and collection points where you can take glass and clothes. Electrical appliances also do not belong in the bins, but at a  recycling centre.

You can find the containers on this page.

Deposit for bottles

There are two different types of bottles and cans:

• Bottles and cans which are returnable (with deposit)
• Bottles and cans which are non-returnable (disposable)

When you buy a drink in a deposit bottle, you automatically pay the deposit of 8-25 cents. When you return the deposit bottle to the store, you get back the amount of 8-25 cents. There are deposit machines in the supermarket for this purpose. From the deposit machine you get a voucher which you redeem at the checkout. You can tell whether a bottle or can has a deposit by the following symbols or by the inscription “returnable bottle”, “deposit bottle”, “reusable”, “reusable bottle”, “disposable”, “disposable bottle”.

Before you start working at a company and earning money you will have to sign a contract. The contract will cover several aspects and information:

Work Tasks
It will be described, which task you will work on.

Working Hours
The contract will state how many hours you will have to work each week and at what times you will work.

Payment
The contract will state, how much money you will earn.

Probation Period
In most cases there will be probation period. The contract will state how long this period lasts.

Duration
An employment contract can be fixed-term or open-ended.
A fixed-term contract is only valid for a certain period of time, for example one year.
An open-ended employment contract is valid until the employer or the employee terminates it.

Term of Notice
If you are no longer satisfied with your work, you can resign. You must then write a letter of resignation. You have to hand in your notice to your employer four weeks before the end of the month. Your employer can also give you a notice if they are no longer satisfied with your work.

Holiday
The employment contract also states how much holiday you get. This is at least 24 days of holiday for a full-time job.

You can find more information on this topic in the  Employment Contract category.

If you are ill and cannot work, you must go to a GP. Call the practice beforehand and make an appointment. Take your health insurance card with you. At the doctor’s office, the doctor will confirm that you are ill. This confirmation is called a Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung (certificate of incapacity for work), or AU for short. This certificate states how long you will be unable to work.

You will then receive three sheets from the doctor’s office: One sheet for your health insurance. One sheet for your employer and one sheet for yourself. On each sheet it is written who it is for. You must send the certificate of incapacity for work immediately to your health insurance company and to your employer. Some health insurance companies allow you to take a photo of the certificate and send it via an app or the homepage.

You must call or email your employer immediately if you cannot come to work.

You can see what a sick note looks like in this document.

Sometimes employers have different rules about sick leave. In many cases, you have to take sick leave immediately if you cannot come to work for a day. Sometimes you only need a sick note from the second or third day. Ask your employer if you need to get a sick note from the doctor for the first day of illness.

You can find information regarding sick notes  in this document. You can also see what a sick note/certificate of incapacity for work (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung) looks like.

An occupational accident is an accident that happens on the way to work or at work. If you have an accident at work, you must see a doctor. These doctors are selected by the company. You also have to report the accident to your employer and enter it in an accident book. Your employer will tell you the regulations.

When you work, you get a payslip/salary statement every month. The payslip shows how much money you earn each month. The gross income (Brutto-Einkommen) is the salary you earn without deducting taxes and social security contributions. Taxes and social security contributions are automatically deducted from your salary every month. These include, for example, income tax, health insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance or long-term care insurance. The amount of money that remains is called net income (Netto-Einkommen).

You can see what a payslip can look like in this sample. On this page you can find more information about the payslip. If you have questions about your payslip and social security contributions, you can get advice, for example, from the counselling centre Faire Integration or the Arbeitnehmerkammer.

The social security system in Germany works according to the solidarity principle. This means that every person in Germany who is working pays some money of their salary every month into the system. People who cannot work receive financial support through this. When you work, taxes and social security contributions are automatically deducted from your salary every month. You pay part of the contributions and your boss pays the other part. If you are sick and cannot work, you still get paid.

You have to be covered by social insurance in Germany. There are also private insurances to cover yourself additionally.

You can find further information on this topic in the category Social Security System. 

You can also get advice on social insurance from the Arbeitnehmerkammer.

In Germany, every employee pays various taxes and insurances. One compulsory insurance is the pension insurance (gesetzliche Rentenversicherung). You automatically pay a contribution every month. Therefore, you pay in an amount every month and get it back again when you retire. Currently, the retirement age in Germany is 67. This means that from the age of 67 people no longer have to work and should live off the money from their pension. Pension insurance is supposed to provide you with financial security in old age.

If you can no longer work or can only work partially because of an illness or a disability, the pension insurance will support you. Even if you are widowed or orphaned, you can be supported by the pension insurance.

In addition to the statutory pension insurance, there are also private pension insurance schemes.

You can get advice on the subject of pension insurance from the Deutschen Rentenversicherung.

Every employee is entitled to paid holiday leave. Your employment contract states how many days of holiday you are entitled to per year. You have to discuss the specific days you want to take off with your boss.

If you fall ill during your leave, go to your doctor and get a sick note. You will get these days back as holiday.

You can find further information about paid holiday leave here. 

An (extended) certificate of good conduct (erweitertes Führungszeugnis) is a document from the authorities. This document states whether you have been convicted of a criminal offence. Sometimes you have to present a certificate of good conduct to your boss. You can apply for a certificate of good conduct online or in person at the Service Centre Bremen. You need a residence in Germany and an identity card. The (extended) certificate of good conduct costs 13€.