Navigating German Bureaucracy/Banks

I thought it would be easy. As a new resident in Germany with a Hungarian citizenship, and thus being a citizen of the EU, I thought I would be able to slice through German bureaucracy like a hot knife through butter. However, even with all the research, even with all the advice I received from Fulbright Germany to get through all of the bureaucratic barriers, I somehow still managed to find a way to screw it up.

Let me first list the things that new residents in Germany, and more specifically Fulbrighters have to complete in order to be able to stay in Germany long-term.

1. Register with the city that you’re living in (you receive a registration certificate from the town/city hall)
2. If you’re not an EU citizen: make an appointment at the Foreigners Office (Ausländeramt) after which you will receive your long-term visa (Aufenthaltsbewilligung)
3. For Fulbrighters, and it would help if you’re living in Germany for a while: open a bank account

It all sounds so simple until you find out that it isn’t. Fulbright Germany can only do as much as they can to prepare those not used to the system for the rollercoaster, so let me tell you about my experience.

The registration is by far the easiest step, yet it can be tricky. I went to the city hall in Wolfsburg with Veit, the teacher in charge of helping me adjust to the city, and it was a quick process. I was asked for identification and a document that proved I was staying in my current apartment, and after seven minutes I received my certificate of registration. However, the process isn’t the same in all cities. Officials in some town halls, according to some stories I heard from my colleagues, might ask for very obscure documents, such as one that states what town you were born in. Of course some people might not have that with them when they arrive in Germany, and the best advice I can give here is to ask if a teacher from the school could accompany you in order to better communicate with the official and maybe try to work it out with them.

In terms of the visa process, I’ve heard from many that this is probably the most difficult part. This experience can end up in a variety of ways depending on what you tell the official behind the desk and what that official wants from you. For some reason, some officials at the foreigner’s office might go on a power trip and ask you for documents that you’re normally not requested to bring, so for this step, it’s better to be over-prepared than to be simply prepared with what Fulbright tells you to bring. For Fulbrighters, I would suggest bringing any and all documents with information about what you’re doing in Germany, as well as any other personal identification documents you have. The more things you can show to the official, the better.

Now this is where my troubles come into play: opening a bank account. In the US, one can simply open a bank account online and receive their debit card and account information in the mail a few days later without any problem. In Germany though, there are a few steps. Depending on which bank you choose, you can open an account online or you can set up an appointment with a banker to open one. I opted to open an account with this one bank online, but I needed to identify myself either with a banker, with an app the bank uses for video-identification, or with a worker for the German Post. You can’t download the app if your AppleID or Google Play account isn’t German, so I opted to go into the bank branch and identify myself there. That was all fine and I was expected to receive my bank information in the mail.

One thing I had overlooked through all of this was the mail. In many European countries, you’re expected to clearly put your name on your mailbox. This was the cause of all my trouble: I didn’t label the mailbox with my name. And if this isn’t done, the mailperson won’t deliver any of your mail. So, instead of being able to access money within the week, I ended up having to wait about two and a half weeks to be able to access money I had already deposited into that account due to the lack of the necessary information like PIN codes and security information that I received in three seperate letters to fully set up my account.

So, if you’re overly prepared with documents and you remember to label your mailbox, you should hopefully be in the clear. But, then again, this is German bureaucracy, so you can never really know what to expect.