The pandemic and German bureaucracy

The Corona pandemic proves to be a great difficulty for German bureaucracy. The so-called “living organ” (that’s how Germans refer to their bureaucratic system), which can also be challenging for native citizens, is now bound to create even more difficulties. These are especially hard to overcome for people who don’t speak German. We can do little to change the course of the pandemic, but we can appease some insecurities and problems. You probably have many questions if you need to deregister now, during the Corona pandemic and the hard lockdown.

We try to focus on the good in the bad and have gathered information on how you can tackle at least one problem during these trying times.

Are citizen’s offices open despite the Corona pandemic?

During the first lockdown in the spring of 2020, we experienced that not all citizen’s offices were open. As in any company, the civil service departments also try to have their employees work with as little exposure to other people as possible.

It limits the number of appointments handed out in the first place. We must keep social distancing rules in place, so the waiting times increase unpredictably. On top of limited appointments, often, citizens’ offices reduced the opening hours.

One silver lining is that written deregistration applications are indeed processed. Postal requests do not create difficulties with social distancing rules and are not tied to the opening hours of the respective citizen’s office. It is summer 2022, and the citizens’ offices have learned to deal with the pandemic. On warm days, the numbers of infections and restrictions decrease. But what has remained: You can safely deregister from home!

Safely deregister from home

If you don’t want to expose yourself to the pandemic risk, you can use our service to deregister your German Address from home. Without an appointment, no long waiting time in an office building and no risk of infection.

Infections may spike again in winter. There is no denying the greater risk of waiting in a queue for an appointment and handing in the application in person. If you want to avoid this risk or don’t have the time to do it in person, you can deregister from home with our service.

We successfully processed all deregistration requests during the pandemic. We’ve even received feedback that the citizen’s offices appreciate the elimination of in-person appointments because it also takes some of the pressure off them.

Here you can take a closer look at our deregistration service.

Deregister, without booking an appointment

With deregistration.de by Sympat.me, you can take care of the whole process wherever you are. You don’t need to book an appointment, and you don’t need to queue in line at the citizen’s office.

With our help deregistering your address is one thing you can tick off your list. Be sure to read our leaving Germany guide, and if you would like assistance in any instance, book one of our services, and we’ll take care of the matter for you.

With our help, there is no need to brave the weather or endure German bureaucracy. You get it done when you choose. Here you will find an overview of all our deregistration services.

How to deregister online – 5 Steps

Please keep in mind that we do our best to provide credible and up-to-date information, but we are not an official advisor (in the sense of the Legal Services Act, RDG) for taxes, legal matters, and the like. Our service does not replace an individual consultation with legal assistance, and we provide digital tools and automated workflows to assist with the residence deregistration and related necessary steps.