Methodology

Our only promise is accuracy you can check. Every fact on this site points to the official page it was copied from and carries the date we read that page.

Current data: 7 cities, 8 processes; 29 city × process combinations fully verified, 6 partly verified, 0 not verified yet. Newest check: 13 Nov 2026. Link check: 15 Nov 2026.

1. Sources we accept

Federal law on gesetze-im-internet.de (Federal Ministry of Justice): for example the 2-week Anmeldung deadline in § 17 BMG, the residence-permit fees in § 45 AufenthV, the 6-month rule for foreign driving licences in § 29 FeV.
Federal agencies: Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (tax ID), Familienkasse of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Kindergeld), ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice (Rundfunkbeitrag), BAMF and the federal family portal.
State law portals where a rule is state law (e.g. the Rundfunkbeitragsstaatsvertrag).
The cities' own service portals (Bürgeramt, Ausländerbehörde, Führerscheinstelle, Elterngeldstelle): office, booking link, fee, documents.

Not accepted: relocation agencies, blogs, forums, AI answers, or private booking vendors. Our data validator rejects any source whose web address is not on a list of government domains.

2. How a fact gets onto the site

We read the official page and copy the fact by hand into a structured data file, in English with the German official wording next to it.
Each fact stores the exact source URL (quelle_url) and the date we read it (stand).
Fees are copied exactly as the official page states them. We never estimate a fee. If a page gives a range, we show the range; if it gives nothing, we show "unknown".
An automatic validator checks every file before it goes live: official domain, https, date present and not in the future, required fields present. One error and the update is rejected; the previous data stays online.

3. What "verified" means

Verified: the responsible office, a booking or online link, the fee and at least one required document were all read on the city's official pages on the date shown.
Partly verified: some of these were found; the missing ones are marked "unknown".
Not verified yet: we have not checked the city's pages; the page then only shows the nationwide rules (and is hidden from search engines).
Nationwide: the process is the same everywhere (tax ID, Kindergeld, Rundfunkbeitrag).

4. Link checking

Official web addresses change often. Every day a link checker requests each official URL in our data. Links that return an error (for example "page not found") are flagged next to the link on the page ("link unreachable at last check") and listed for us to fix. Some government sites refuse automated requests; those are not marked as broken.

5. FIM, LeiKa and PVOG

Germany has a federal catalogue of standardised service descriptions (Föderales Informationsmanagement, FIM, with the Leistungskatalog, LeiKa) and a gateway that connects the service portals (Portalverbund Online-Gateway, PVOG). We use only what is openly published. Where a LeiKa service key could be read on an open official page, the guide shows it. City-specific details (office, fee, booking link) come from the cities' own pages.

6. Checklist deadlines

The first-30-days checklist counts deadlines from the dates you enter, using the rule cited on each step: 14 days for the Anmeldung (§ 17 BMG), 6 months for using a non-EU driving licence (§ 29 FeV), Kindergeld paid retroactively for at most 6 months (§ 70 EStG), Elterngeld retroactively for at most 3 months before the month of application (§ 7 BEEG), where our federal data confirms them. Steps without a fixed legal deadline say so.

7. Limits

This is not legal advice. Your individual case may differ; the office decides.
Rules and fees change. The date next to each fact tells you how fresh it is; the linked official page is authoritative.
We do not show waiting times yet. A moderated, user-reported waiting-time feature is planned and will be clearly labelled as unofficial.

8. Spotted an error?

Use the "Report an error" link at the bottom of every city and process page, or the contact form, and name the page and the official source. We fix verified errors quickly.