Resident registration and welcome money

If you move to your place of study, you must register in the respective municipality. This also applies if your centre of life remains (for the time being) in your home town, for example if you only live at your place of study during the week. You are legally obliged to register within two weeks of moving in. To do this, visit the residents' registration office at your new place of residence.

Primary or secondary residence?

You have the choice of registering your flat at your place of study as your primary or secondary residence. In certain cases, it may be important to keep your primary residence at home, so if in doubt, ask before you decide. However, this is not usually important for receiving normal child benefit. One of the differences between primary and secondary residence is that you only exercise your right to vote at your primary residence.

Primary residence pays off: welcome money for students

The local authorities have an interest in students registering their first place of residence. The amount of financial allocations that a municipality receives from the state is based on the number of residents - and only the primary residence counts. To encourage students to register, many cities award a "welcome grant".
This also applies to the cities of Oldenburg, Emden and Elsfleth, although the amounts and award modalities differ in detail.

Wilhelmshaven, on the other hand, chooses the opposite approach and levies a second residence tax. This means that people who "only" register their second residence there have to pay a certain amount (depending on the respective rent) to the city every year. Although there are some exceptions, these do not generally apply to students. Information on the second residence tax in Wilhelmshaven