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State guide

Hessen (Hesse)

Where to register, which immigration office handles your case, how to book, and what differs from the nationwide rules.

Checked 6 Nov 202630 official sources

General information only. This page gives general information from official sources. Check with your local office before you act.

This page lists only what is different or specific to Hesse. For the nationwide rules, see the Anmeldung guide and the visa guides. All facts were checked on 2026-11-04.

1) Registering your address (Meldebehörde)

How to find your office

  • Your registration office is your own Gemeinde or city. The Verwaltungsportal Hessen lets you choose a Gemeinde, city or Landkreis from a map or a search and shows its services and offices. Source: verwaltungsportal.hessen.de (checked 2026-11-04)
  • The state's citizen phone line (Bürgertelefon Hessen) is +49 611 32 111 000, Mon–Thu 8:00–17:00 and Fri 8:00–15:00. Source: verwaltungsportal.hessen.de (checked 2026-11-04)
  • Online registration (wohnsitzanmeldung) is available in "many municipalities" in Hesse, but not in all of them. Source: serviceportal.gemeinsamonline.de/Onlinedienste/Service/Entry (checked 2026-11-04). Use the address check on wohnsitzanmeldung.gov.de to see whether it works for you.

Main cities

Frankfurt am Main
Office and booking
Bürgeramt with 11 locations, and you can use any of them. Mon and Wed: walk-in, no appointment. Tue, Thu and Fri: appointment needed. The Fechenheim, Kalbach, Harheim and Nieder-Erlenbach branches see you by appointment only. New slots open on weekdays at 6:00, two weeks ahead; extra slots for the following week open Mondays around 8:00; same-day slots open at 6:00. You can leave a slot request in the booking system. Phone 069 115.
Online registration
Yes, for a main or only home. Not possible for a second home or for a move from abroad. You must be 18 or older. It does not yet work with an eAT.
Wiesbaden
Office and booking
Bürgerbüro, Marktstraße 18, plus the Ortsverwaltungen. Appointment only, booked online, usually up to 2 weeks ahead, with new slots released daily and weekly. You must select every service you need when you book. Phone 0611 313344. Video appointments are available for Meldebescheinigung, Führungszeugnis and Abmeldung ins Ausland. Closed on 13 Nov 2026.
Online registration
Page links to online services. For online Anmeldung, use the address check on wohnsitzanmeldung.gov.de.
Darmstadt
Office and booking
Bürger- und Ordnungsamt (Melde- und Passwesen), with online appointment booking.
Online registration
Yes, electronic Anmeldung or Ummeldung since 1 Aug 2024, via wohnsitzanmeldung.de. You need a Personalausweis with eID, the AusweisApp and a BundID.
Kassel
Office and booking
Rathaus Bürgerbüro, Obere Königsstraße 8. Appointment only, Mon–Sat; Saturday 9–12. Booking at tevis.ekom21.de/kas: up to 4 weeks ahead, extra slots daily from 8:00 and on Fridays from 11:00.
Online registration
Yes, main home only, at www.kassel.de/wohnsitz-anmelden. Free online. eAT not usable.
Offenbach am Main
Office and booking
Bürgerbüro, Kaiserstraße 39. Since 24 Feb 2025, appointments are online only, at tevis.ekom21.de/off; no booking at the desk, by phone or by email. Several hundred slots for the next week open every Wednesday afternoon, by 18:00 at the latest.
Online registration
For online Anmeldung, use the address check on wohnsitzanmeldung.gov.de.

Fees: Kassel states that online registration has no fees. Source: kassel.de › wohnsitz-anmelden-online (checked 2026-11-04). For in-person registration fees, ask when you book.

2) Ausländerbehörde

Who is responsible

  • Hesse's foreigners authorities are the Landkreise (district administrations) and the mayors of kreisfreie Städte. Towns within a district that have more than 50,000 residents also have their own. People who must live in a state reception facility fall under the Regierungspräsidium Gießen. Sources: verwaltungsportal.hessen.de/en/leistung (checked 2026-11-04); the regulation itself (HessAuslZustV: § 1 Ausländerbehörden, § 2 RP Gießen) is in the official Hessian law database: rv.hessenrecht.hessen.de › jlr-AuslZustVHE2018pIVZ (checked 2026-11-05).
  • The state publishes an official list of all Hessian Ausländerbehörden: innen.hessen.de › uebersicht-der-hessischen-a… (checked 2026-11-04). Exceptions to "one office per district or city" shown there:
  • Stadt Kassel's office also covers Landkreis Kassel (Abteilung für Zuwanderung und Integration, Obere Königsstraße 8).
  • Landkreis Fulda's office also covers the city of Fulda.
  • Cities with their own office include Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Gießen (city) and Hanau. Gießen therefore has both a city office and a Landkreis office.

Central office for skilled workers: ZFEH

  • The Zentrale Stelle für Fachkräfteeinwanderung Hessen (ZFEH) at the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt runs the accelerated skilled-worker procedure (§81a AufenthG). It has covered workplaces in Frankfurt am Main since 1 Oct 2026 and will cover all of Hesse from 1 Dec 2026. The local Ausländerbehörden also stay responsible, so employers can choose either one. The fee is €411, due when the agreement is signed; family members included in the same procedure pay no extra §81a fee. Advice is free. Contact: zfeh@rpda.hessen.de, +49 6151 12 8500, Mon–Wed 9–13 and Thu 9–16:30. Source: rp-darmstadt.hessen.de › fachkraefteeinwanderung (checked 2026-11-04)
  • After entry, the residence permit itself is still issued by the local Ausländerbehörde. Same source.
  • No central Ausländerbehörde for residence permits in general: the sources above give this to the local offices, and the ZFEH covers only § 81a.

Main cities: appointments and online applications

Frankfurt
Details
Ordnungsamt, Ausländerangelegenheiten, Kleyerstraße 86 (entrance Rebstöcker Straße 4), phone 069 212-42485. Start your application on the page "Ich möchte einen Antrag stellen".
Wiesbaden
Details
Alcide-de-Gasperi-Straße 3, phone 0611 313657; phone service hours 11–12 on Mon, Tue, Wed and Fri. Visits by appointment only. You request one through an online form, which must be filled in in German, and the reply may take weeks. Extending an Aufenthaltsgestattung needs no appointment. People whose permit is expiring, and newcomers after Anmeldung, are invited automatically. A Digitaler Briefkasten is available for documents.
Darmstadt
Details
Luisencenter, 4th floor, Luisenplatz 5, phone 06151 13 3323. Forms are on the Digitales Rathaus; send them by email to auslaenderbehoerde@darmstadt.de or by post. The office is generally responsible only if you live in Darmstadt. (checked 2026-11-05)
Kassel (city and Landkreis)
Details
Abteilung für Zuwanderung und Integration, Obere Königsstraße 8, Book appointments on 0561 115; many services can also be applied for online. (checked 2026-11-05)
Offenbach
Details
Ausländeramt, Rathaus, Berliner Straße 100, phone 069 115. Appointment always required. Third-country nationals who newly register, or whose permit is expiring, are sent an appointment. Book by phone or contact form; transferring a permit to a new passport and collecting documents are online booking only. Online applications include the Niederlassungserlaubnis, family, employment and training permits, the accelerated skilled-worker procedure and the Verpflichtungserklärung.
Source (checked 2026-11-04)
offenbach.de/auslaenderamt

3) Official portals & finders

All checked 2026-11-04.

4) Known differences vs nationwide guides

  1. ZFEH: a state-level central office for §81a accelerated procedures, alongside the local offices; it goes statewide on 1 Dec 2026. Source: rp-darmstadt.hessen.de › fachkraefteeinwanderung (checked 2026-11-04)
  2. Shared Ausländerbehörden: Kassel's city office also serves Landkreis Kassel, and Landkreis Fulda's office also serves the city of Fulda. Towns with more than 50,000 residents within a district can have their own office. Sources: innen.hessen.de › uebersicht-der-hessischen-a… ; verwaltungsportal.hessen.de/en/leistung (checked 2026-11-04)
  3. Automatic invitations: Wiesbaden and Offenbach send newcomers from third countries an appointment invitation automatically after Anmeldung. Sources: Wiesbaden and Offenbach pages above (checked 2026-11-04)
  4. Frankfurt walk-in days: Mon and Wed without an appointment, unlike the appointment-only systems in the other four cities. Source: Frankfurt Bürgerämter page above (checked 2026-11-04)
  5. Registration deadline: two weeks, as everywhere in Germany. Federal law says "innerhalb von zwei Wochen nach dem Einzug" (BMG §17(1), checked 2026-11-06), and the Frankfurt, Kassel and Darmstadt pages agree. Offenbach's newcomer brochure says "innerhalb einer Woche" (offenbach.de › ankommen-in-offenbach-borsc…); the law takes precedence, but registering early does no harm.
  6. Online registration address: Frankfurt's pages link to both wohnsitzanmeldung.de and wohnsitzanmeldung.gov.de. They're the same federal service: the first redirects to the second (checked 2026-11-06).

General information summarised from official sources. Check with the responsible office before you act.

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