Redirecting Mail using Deutsche Post

Although Germany is fast moving towards digitalisation, there are still letters or documents sent via post which you can’t afford to miss in your post box. You can expect your Ausländerbehörde (Foreigners office), Finanzamt (Tax office), Electricity/WLAN provider or your Bank etc. communicating important messages via post.

This article discusses three important services from German post (DHL) which you can cleverly use so that you don’t miss any letters during relocation or vacation.

Nachsendeservice

When you relocate permanently or temporarily, Nachsendeservice (FORWARDING SERVICE) ensures that your letters and magazines are forwarded to your new address for up to 24 months.

COSTS

It costs you around 26.90 € for 12 months and 34.90 € for 24 months. Further, online option is currently 3€ cheaper than ordering at Deutsche post office.

Steps for online Application

1. Open the Deutsche post link here.
2. Select Privat for private individuals as shown below.

3. Now you have following options from Deutsche post-
   • Umzug – Permanent Relocation within Germany or to abroad.
   • Vorübergehende Abwesenheit– Temporary Relocation within Germany or to abroad.
   • Sterbefall– deceased.
   • Insolvenz- und Betreuungsfall– Insolvency and support case.

4. Termin und Dauer-Beginn der Nachsendung- Enter start date of mail forwarding as shown above.
5. Wieder zustellen an bisherige Adresse ab (only for temporary relocation)- Enter end date of mail forwarding.
6. Auftraggeber(in) – Enter your personal details here (person 1) as shown below.

7. Weitere Personen – Enter details of other persons (person 2,3 etc) who resides in the same address (for e.g. spouse, children etc.) who would also like to use the service. You can add more using the button weitere person Hinzufügen.

8. Bisherige Addresse– Enter your old Address details here as shown below.

9. Neue Addresse– Enter your new Address details here as shown below.

10. Mit Umzugsmitteilung- It is applicable only for people who are relocating permanently. You can add it free of cost and it ensures following services-
    • It ensures that many of your contractual partners – e.g. banks, insurance companies, publishers, associations, who already know your old address – can send your mail directly to your new address.
    • This helps to avoid incorrect delivery to your old address after the expiration of the redirection order.
    • The update is made for all persons named in the above order.

or else you can skip the option and continue further with Ohne Umzugsmitteilung.

11. Zusatzleistungen- You can also opt for other additional services from DHL like forwarding delivery of DHL parcels and packages (Päckchen, Paketen) to new address (only in Germany) with an additional charge per shipment of 6,99 €.
12. Add to your cart (Warenkorb) and now you can complete the request with Nächster schritt button and further complete the payment.

Lagerservice

If you are planning to go for vacation, then Lagerservice from DHL can store all letters for you so that you don’t miss any at your home. This service is flexible and can be selected for a period of 1 to 90 days. It works in the following way-

1. Letters, postcards etc. that are delivered during your absence will be kept safe and secure for you.
2. When your holidays are over, DHL will deliver the collected mail to you at the agreed time.

It is recommended to place your order at least 5 days before your vacation.

Costs

Currently, it costs 9.90 € for service up to one month and 11.90 € for up to 3 months.

Steps for online Application

1. Open the Deutsche post link here.
2. Select privat for private individuals.
3. Termin und Dauer–
   • Beginn der Lagerung– Enter start date of your vacation here.
   • Wieder zustellen ab– Enter end date of your vacation.
4. Auftraggeber (in)– Enter your personal details here (person 1) as already shown above.
5. Weitere Personen– Enter details of other persons (person 2,3 etc) if any who resides in the same address (for e.g. spouse, children etc) who would like to use the service. You can add more using the button Weitere Person Hinzufügen.
6. Adressangaben– Enter your personal address here as already shown above.
7. Add to your cart (Warenkorb) and now you can complete the request with Nächster schritt button and further complete the payment.

Umzugsmitteilung

It is a free of cost service that enables companies (for e.g. Bank, Insurance partner etc.) that have already been in contact with you to retrieve your new address. Once you enable the service, your address change information will be stored for 2 years in the relocation file of Deutsche Post. Now contract partners can check whether your address is still current and update it if necessary.

Steps for online Application

Open Deutsche post link here.

1. Umziehende person- Enter your personal details here as shown below.

Mehr personen Hinzufügen– Enter details of other persons (person 2,3 etc) who resides in the same address (for e.g. spouse, children etc) and would like to avail the service. You can add more using the button Mehr personen Hinzufügen.

2. Alte addresse eingeben– Enter your old address details here.

3. Neue addresse eingeben– Enter your new address details here along with the start date of validity of address change (Neue Anschrift gültig ab/seit )

4. Click nächster schritt button and check the details provided. Now complete the request with Jetzt Kostenlos abschließen button.

Eazyleben Tips

1. Under Umzugsmitteilung service, only companies can perform the address check. Private individuals and authorities cannot.
2. Umzugsmitteilung service allows your most important contractual partners to find about your new address on their own and send the post to your new address without any detours. But there is no guarantee that companies will make use of this service.
3. Nachsende service ensures that mail from private contacts and authorities is forwarded to your new address for a certain period. However, the sender of the letters will not be informed of your new address.
4. Nachsendeservice can also be used to forward your mail to a foreign country.

Read Here: How to register your Apartment in Germany?

Know more: Find my FINANZAMT nearby online.