Germany NRI Guide

Your first month in Germany is mostly paperwork: registering your address, getting a tax ID, choosing health insurance and opening a bank account, while your Indian accounts have to change too. After that, the questions that matter are how Germany taxes your Indian income and what happens to your German pension if you leave.

Your first month

1. Register your address (Anmeldung) at the local Bürgeramt within two weeks of moving in. Banks, insurers and your employer all need the registration certificate.
2. Your tax ID (Steuer-ID) arrives by post a few weeks after you register. Your employer needs it to run payroll correctly.
3. Health insurance is compulsory. Most employees join a statutory insurer; higher earners can choose private cover instead.
4. A bank account. App-based banks such as N26 and DKB usually open without a German credit history (SCHUFA); traditional banks may want one first.
5. In India, have your resident savings account converted to NRO and open an NRE account for money you send home. Our NRI banking guide explains the difference.

When you register, you are asked your religion. Church tax, an extra 8% or 9% of your income tax, applies only to members of the churches and religious communities that levy it, mainly the Catholic and Protestant churches. Hindus, Muslims and people with no religion do not pay it.

Tax in two countries

The German tax year is the calendar year; India’s runs from April to March. You are taxed in Germany on your worldwide income if you live there or spend more than six months there. Income tax rates rise to 45%, and the solidarity surcharge now applies only to high earners.

As a German resident you declare Indian income on your German return, including interest on NRE deposits, which India does not tax but Germany does. The India-Germany tax treaty lets you credit Indian tax against the German bill; our DTAA estimator shows the effect. Indian mutual funds are more complicated: Germany taxes funds under its own investment-fund rules, which can tax some funds each year before you sell. Take advice before buying Indian funds while you live in Germany.

The EU Blue Card

Skilled workers earning above an annual salary threshold, which is lower for shortage occupations such as IT, can get an EU Blue Card. Since late 2023, Blue Card holders can apply for permanent residence after 27 months, or 21 months with B1-level German. German citizenship normally needs five years’ residence. India does not allow dual citizenship, so becoming German means giving up your Indian passport; an OCI card then gives you lifelong visa-free travel to India.

If you move back to India

German tax residence ends when you leave, and you file a return for the part-year. Your German pension contributions do not simply disappear: depending on how long you paid in, you may be able to reclaim your own share after you have been gone for two years, or draw a German pension later, which can be paid abroad. Check your options with Deutsche Rentenversicherung before you go.

In India, you may qualify as resident but not ordinarily resident for your first years back, which can keep foreign income out of Indian tax; our RNOR tracker works out your status. Compare the cost of moving your savings on our euro transfer guide.

The Embassy of India is in Berlin, with consulates general in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg.