Before you start

An entry visa appropriate to your purpose, obtained before travel for most non-EU nationals
A signed rental contract and a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from whoever provides your accommodation
An employment contract, for work-based permits
A degree recognised via anabin or assessed by the ZAB, for the EU Blue Card

Step-by-step

1
Book a Bürgerbüro appointment before you arrive
Registration slots are released through the city's online system across the district Bürgerbüros. Availability is better than Munich's and worse than a small town's. Take any district office rather than the nearest one and fill in the form in advance.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival where possible
2
Get the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung signed at the same time as the lease
Whoever provides the accommodation must confirm your move-in in writing, by law within two weeks. In a sublet or a company flat this is the thing that gets forgotten. Without it you will be turned away at the counter.
In personWho: Your landlordAt contract signing
3
Register within two weeks and take extra certified copies
The appointment lasts minutes. The Meldebescheinigung it produces is required separately by your employer, your bank, your health insurer and the Ausländerbehörde, so buy several copies at the counter rather than returning for them.
In personWho: YouWithin 2 weeks of moving in
4
Treat the religion field as the tax question it is
Declaring membership of a recognised church starts automatic church tax deduction at 8% of your income tax in Baden-Württemberg. Declaring none is lawful and straightforward. Leaving the church later is a formal act at the registry with a fee and takes effect only from the following month.
In personWho: YouAt the appointment
5
Use the Welcome Center Stuttgart for the sequencing
The regional economic development body runs a free advisory service for international skilled workers and accompanying partners, covering permits, qualification recognition, schools and the order in which to do things. It is publicly funded, independent of your employer, and the single most underused resource for anyone moving here.
In personWho: You
6
File the residence permit application as soon as you are registered
Non-EU nationals apply to the Ausländerbehörde for a residence permit or an EU Blue Card. Submit early. If your entry visa expires while the file is pending, ask for a Fiktionsbescheinigung — it preserves your right to remain and to work rather than forcing you to stop.
In personWho: YouWeeks to months

Documents you’ll need

Passport with entry visa
Completed registration form and Wohnungsgeberbestätigung
Signed rental contract
Employment contract and proof of salary
Degree certificate with anabin or ZAB recognition, for the Blue Card
Proof of health insurance and biometric photographs to German specification

Things most newcomers don’t know

Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are the only states charging 8% church tax — everywhere else it is 9%.

The declaration is made in a five-minute registration appointment and produces an automatic payroll deduction of 8% of your income tax liability for as long as you remain a member. Nobody at the counter explains this. On a Stuttgart engineering salary the annual figure is substantial, and formally leaving the church later costs a fee and only takes effect from the following month — so the answer you give on arrival is worth thinking about beforehand.

Source: Oberfinanzdirektion Baden-Württemberg

The region runs a free Welcome Center for skilled workers, and almost nobody arriving uses it.

Publicly funded and independent of any employer, it advises on permits, recognition of foreign qualifications, school places and the sequence of registrations, in English, at no charge. Most newcomers rely instead on their employer's HR department, which knows its own process and not the rest of it, or on forums. Booking a session in your first fortnight replaces several weeks of trial and error.

Source: Welcome Center Stuttgart / Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart

Check your degree against anabin before your employer chooses a permit route.

The EU Blue Card requires a German degree or a foreign one recognised as equivalent, and the anabin database decides that. An institution listed as H+ makes the application routine; one that is not listed requires an individual ZAB assessment taking weeks. Employers frequently assume a reputable foreign degree simply counts, and the discovery that it needs assessing tends to arrive after the visa clock has started running.

Source: BAMF / Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen

Ask for the Blue Card specifically rather than accepting the general skilled worker permit.

The Blue Card gives faster access to settlement, immediate work rights for an accompanying spouse and more freedom to change employer. Both salary thresholds are pegged to the pension contribution ceiling and reset every January — for 2026 the general figure is EUR 50,700 gross and the reduced one EUR 45,934.20 for shortage occupations including engineering and IT and for recent graduates — so read the current numbers off BAMF rather than any secondhand figure. Stuttgart engineering salaries usually clear it comfortably — the reason people end up without one is that HR filed the process it already knew.

Source: BAMF — EU Blue Card

Common mistakes to avoid

Signing a lease or a company flat agreement without securing the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung.
Answering the religion question casually and triggering 8% church tax on every payslip.
Leaving the Ausländerbehörde application until the entry visa is nearly expired instead of asking for a Fiktionsbescheinigung.
Never contacting the Welcome Center and reconstructing the whole sequence from forum posts.
Assuming a foreign degree qualifies for the Blue Card without checking anabin first.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.