Germany SIM Card for International Students and New Arrivals

Newcomers to Germany need a registered prepaid SIM or a postpaid plan, and both depend on paperwork: prepaid needs a passport or accepted photo ID check, while a monthly contract usually needs a German IBAN, a fixed address and a SCHUFA check. Until those are ready, a data only eSIM keeps you online for maps, messages and internet calls.

Germany SIM card for international students: what you need

A prepaid SIM is the realistic first purchase: it needs no Anmeldung, no German bank account and no SCHUFA check, only an identity check with an accepted photo ID. A monthly contract comes later, once you have a fixed address, an IBAN and some payment history.

What the prepaid identity check requires:

• Registration is mandatory. Since 1 July 2017 providers must verify the holder's identity before activating a prepaid SIM or eSIM, under section 172 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). Permitted alternative methods are set by Bundesnetzagentur order 94/2021.
• Accepted documents: passport, national ID card, residence permit and other official photo ID valid in Germany. A foreign passport is accepted.
• Not accepted: driving licence, student card, expired documents.
• No Anmeldung or residence permit is needed. A German contact address such as a hotel or hostel is enough.
• Where to buy: operator and partner shops (Telekom, Vodafone, O2), supermarkets and online. Activation then needs an ID check in a shop, by video ident, at a Deutsche Post branch (PostIdent) or with an electronic ID.

Operator prepaid eSIMs exist and are verified the same way as physical SIMs, for example Vodafone CallYa. Video ident may reject some non-EU passports, so the fallback is a shop or PostIdent. See the Germany plan page for data options while you sort this out.

Prepaid SIM or monthly contract: which comes first

Prepaid comes first for almost every newcomer. A monthly contract usually needs a German bank account for direct debit, a fixed German address usually backed by the Anmeldung, a SCHUFA credit check and a passport or ID, and those pieces arrive in that order over the first weeks.

What a contract asks for:

• German bank account (IBAN) for direct debit
• Fixed German address, usually backed by the Anmeldung
• SCHUFA credit check
• Passport or ID

On SCHUFA: a newcomer's empty file is "unknown, not bad", but some providers decline unknown profiles, and classic contracts often run 24 months. Monthly cancellable postpaid plans exist and are described as friendlier to unknown profiles, though they still involve a SCHUFA check. Prepaid has no SCHUFA check at all. Guidance from How to Germany is that a prepaid card or a monthly cancellable plan is the way in until you have Anmeldung, a bank account and a few months of payment history. Whether a specific provider demands the Anmeldung certificate itself or only a fixed address and IBAN varies, so the operator will confirm its own list.

How long the paperwork takes

The Anmeldung is the bottleneck. In Berlin the average wait for an appointment was 27 days in July 2025, against 33 days a year earlier, and 81.2% of those wanting a slot within 14 days got one. The legal deadline to register is reported as within 14 days of moving in.

What follows the Anmeldung:

• German current account (Girokonto): banks typically ask for the city registration confirmation. Time to open is not verified here, so ask your chosen bank.
• SCHUFA history good enough for a contract: a few months of payment history. No official range was found, so treat it as a matter of months rather than weeks.
• Berlin also offers online registration, which can shorten the wait.

The statutory text of the 14 day deadline was not retrieved for this guide, so check your city's official site. Plan on prepaid for the first weeks and start the Anmeldung appointment search the day you arrive.

Your first 30 days in Germany: a timeline

Days 1 to 7: get a registered prepaid SIM with your passport, move into your address and book the Anmeldung. Weeks 2 to 4: register your address, then open a Girokonto with the confirmation. After that: build a few months of payment history before applying for a contract.

A practical order:

1. Before or on arrival: install a data eSIM so you have maps and messages from the airport. Buy it at home and it starts when it first connects in Germany.
2. Day 1 to 3: buy a prepaid SIM in an operator shop or supermarket and complete the ID check in the shop, by video ident or by PostIdent.
3. Day 1 to 7: book the Anmeldung appointment. Berlin's average was 27 days in July 2025, so book early.
4. After Anmeldung: open the Girokonto, since banks typically want the registration confirmation.
5. Month 2 onward: with an IBAN, a fixed address and a few months of payment history, compare postpaid plans, including monthly cancellable ones.

Read more on moving abroad for the wider checklist.

Staying connected until your local plan is ready

A data only eSIM covers the gap between landing and a working local plan. Slashtel eSIMs give data only: no local phone number and no calls or SMS, but WhatsApp and other internet calls work over the data. Data options are 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 GB, from $5.89.

How it works:

• Buy online with an email address and a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The QR code arrives by email within minutes.
• Validity starts when the eSIM first connects at the destination, so you can buy and install it at home before the flight.
• The network is chosen automatically and cannot be picked by hand.
• More data can be added to the same eSIM later, with no new QR code.
• Your phone must be unlocked and eSIM compatible. Check with the compatibility guide and follow the install guide.

Estimate your needs with the data calculator. This is a first weeks tool, not a replacement for a local plan once your paperwork is done.

Getting a local number for your bank and admin

You need a German mobile number once you open a bank account and deal with admin: most German banks send SMS-TAN codes to a mobile number and several expect a German one. A local prepaid SIM gives you that number; the Slashtel eSIM does not, because it is data only.

So the sequence matters:

• Get the prepaid SIM before opening the account, so the SMS-TAN codes reach a German number.
• Keep the home SIM in the phone for calls and bank codes from back home, and turn off data roaming on it to avoid roaming charges.
• Use the eSIM for data and the local prepaid SIM for the number and SMS.

How calls, texts and one time codes behave on a data eSIM is explained in this guide. Students can also see the student page.

When family visits you in Germany

Visitors can use a Slashtel eSIM for the trip, and the person already in Germany can buy it: enter the visitor's email at checkout and the QR code goes straight to the person who will use it. That keeps a sim card for parents visiting Germany simple and avoids a shop visit and ID check for a short stay.

Good to know for visitors:

• Data only: no local number, no calls or SMS. Internet calls over WhatsApp work.
• Install before the flight; validity starts on first connection in Germany.
• The visitor's phone must be unlocked and eSIM compatible.
• For a longer stay or a local number, a registered prepaid SIM is the alternative, with the same ID rules as above.

Data sizes run from 1 GB to 50 GB, with 5 GB at $5.89.

Keeping your home number active

Keep the home SIM in the phone with data roaming switched off, so calls and bank codes from home still arrive without roaming charges. If the home line is prepaid, a top-up keeps it alive while you are in Germany.

Practical steps:

• Set the eSIM as the data line and the home SIM for calls and SMS.
• Turn off data roaming on the home SIM.
• If the home prepaid credit is running low, Slashtel sells mobile top-ups to more than 100 countries, delivered in minutes, which keep a prepaid home line active.
• More detail is in keep your number active, and top-ups are on the recharge page and top-up page.

Once your German plan is running, decide whether to keep the home number for bank codes or move everything across.

First-week catches to avoid

The classic trap is circular: banks usually want the Anmeldung confirmation, the Anmeldung needs an appointment, and contracts want both the address and an IBAN, so newcomers stay on prepaid for the first weeks. Plan for that instead of fighting it.

Other catches:

• Video ident apps can reject some non-EU passports or fail on glare. Names must be typed exactly as in the passport's machine-readable zone. A shop or PostIdent check is the fallback.
• Most German banks send SMS-TAN codes to a mobile number and several expect a German one, so get a prepaid SIM before opening the account.
• Do not rely on a data eSIM for bank codes: it has no number and no SMS.
• Check your phone is unlocked before buying any eSIM.

For the country overview and data options, start at the Germany page.

Sources

Checked 2026-10-24. Rules and waiting times change, so check the official sites before you rely on them.

• Bundesnetzagentur: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Telekommunikation/OeffentlicheSicherheit/IdentverfahrenPrepaid/artikel.html
• How to Germany: https://www.how-to-germany.com/sim-cards/sim-verification-videoident/
• How to Germany: https://www.how-to-germany.com/sim-cards/schufa-telecom-contracts/
• Land Berlin: https://www.berlin.de/en/news/9893422-5559700-more-appointments-and-shorter-waiting-ti.en.html
• IamExpat: https://www.iamexpat.ch/expat-info/germany-news/now-possible-get-burgeramt-appointment-within-2-weeks-berlin
• WorkingStudentJobs: https://www.workingstudentjobs.de/blog/german-sim-card-phone-number-students
• Augsburg University of Applied Sciences: https://www.hs-augsburg.de/en/International/Degree-Students/Residence-and-registration-obligations/Opening-a-bank-account.html
• Aachen LocalWiki: https://localwiki.org/aachen/Telecommunication