Put your name here, your address there, then sign on the dotted line... If you want to be able to watch TV in your new home, make a phone call, turn on the heating or the lights, you have to fill in lots of forms.
The trip to the Einwohnermeldeamt – Residents Registration Office – should be one of the first things you do.
The North Rhine-Westphalia registration law obliges you to register in your new district within a week after moving.
Penalties may apply if you leave it longer. Furthermore, you´ll only feel like a genuine Cologne or Bonn resident when it´s written on your ID document, won´t you?
Registering can be done quickly in Cologne. You just need to go to any one of the nine district offices located across the city.
Since 2008 new residents have been able to register themselves and their vehicle in one step at the customer service center in Laurenzplatz or at the vehicle registration center in Poll.
You must take ID documents for everyone who is moving (ID, child´s ID or birth certificate) and the appropriate forms filled out and signed (they can be down-loaded at www.stadt-koeln.de) and also the vehicle registration document.
If you want to send someone else to register on your behalf, you must also give them a formal letter of authority.
Registration is free. Only changes of address on the motor vehicle registration certificate have a fee, which is € 10.70.
The registration process works the same way in Bonn´s four district council offices.
You can avoid long waiting lines by arranging an appointment online at www.bonn.de, where you there are also registration forms to download.
Foreigners from outside the European Union who do not have EU citizens´right to live and work anywhere in the EU usually have to go through another bureaucratic hurdle before they can register.
They have to obtain a residents permit from the foreign residents office.
Overview of important authorities
Mo-Fr 08.00-12.00 Uhr, as well as by appointment
Central telephone number for all municipal offices: 221-0
Bürgeramt Ehrenfeld
›› Ehrenfeld, Venloerstr. 419-21, Tel. 221-943 33
Bürgeramt Innenstadt
›› Altstadt-Nord, Rathausplatz, Spanischer Bau, Tel. 221-913 33
›› Customer center, Innenstadt, Laurenzplatz 1-3, Tel. 221-915 73
Bürgeramt Kalk
›› Kalk, Kalker Haupt Str. 247-273, Tel. 221-983 33
Bürgeramt Lindenthal
›› Lindenthal, Aachener Str. 220, Tel. 221-933 14
Bürgeramt Mühlheim
›› Mülheim, Wiener Platz 2a, Tel. 221-993 33
Bürgeramt Nippes
›› Nippes, Neusser Str. 450
Bürgeramt Porz
›› Porz, Friedrich-Ebert-Ufer 64-70, Tel. 221-973 27
Bürgeramt Rodenkirchen
›› Rodenkirchen, Haupt Str. 85, Tel. 221-923 21
Internal revenue
›› Altstadt-Süd, Am Weidenbach 2-4, Tel. 220 26-0
›› Altstadt-Süd, Blaubach 7, Tel. 924 00-0
›› Lindenthal, Innere Kanal Str. 214, Tel. 973 44-0
›› Deutz, Sieges Str. 1, Tel. 98 05-0
›› Porz, Klinger Str. 2-6, Tel. 022 03/898-0
›› Altstadt-Süd, Am Weidenbach 6, Tel. 20 26-0
›› Lindenthal, Haselberg Str. 20, Tel. 57 34-0
www.finanzamt.nrw.de/koeln.de
Vehicles
Residents parking permits
›› www.stadt-koeln.de/buergerservice/themen
Vehicle registration office
›› Poll, Max-Glomsda-Str. 4
Tel. 221-266 35 & 221-266 92
Foreign residents offices
Non German residents affairs
›› Kalk, Ottmar-Pohl-Platz 1, Tel. 221-221 39 & 221-295 22
›› Employment emigration & Integration: Kalk
Kalker Haupt Str. 247-273, Tel. 221-0
›› www.stadt-koeln.de/buergerservice/adressen
Waste disposal
Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe Köln -
Hauptverwaltung und Service-Center
›› Ehrenfeld, Maarweg 271, Tel. 922 22 24
www.awbkoeln.de
Disposal of bulky waste
›› Abfall-Center Köln-Ossendorf, Butzweiler Str. 50
open: Mo-Fr 8.00-20.00 Uhr, Sa 8.00-16.00 Uhr
›› Abfall-Center Köln Gremberghoven, August-Horch-Str. 3
open: Mo-Fr 8.00-20.00 Uhr, Sa 8.00-16.00 Uhr
›› Bulky waste service hotline: 922 22 22
www.awbkoeln.de
