All About Berlin
@allaboutberlin.bsky.social
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Plain English guides for Berliners. -
https://allaboutberlin.com
Why don't German apartments have apartment numbers? I must always explain to newcomers that "if your name is not on your mailbox, you won't get your mail". This is a problem when you are living with a friend or in an unauthorized sublet.
about 9 hours ago
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There were no examples of an Abmeldebescheinigung on the internet until now. It's easier to say "you need this document" with a picture.
about 12 hours ago
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New guide is out!
allaboutberlin.com/guides/leavi...
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How to leave Germany
Instructions for leaving Germany and moving to another country.
https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/leaving-germany
3 days ago
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When you leave Germany, your Abmeldung certificate lets you cancel some contracts with a 1 month notice period. You can only do your Abmeldung 1 week before you move out. 🤡
4 days ago
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To those who left Germany: what happened to your German bank account? Did you have any trouble keeping it open after you left the country?
4 days ago
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"Let's just write a quick guide about leaving Germany, it'll only take a few days" 4 weeks later:
7 days ago
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I'm finishing up a guide about leaving Germany. There are so many little details that are easy to forget. My to-do list will help. As soon as this is done, I will focus on a new guide: "How to lower your rent" (without paying Conny's insane fees).
19 days ago
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A calculator is worth a thousand words. I made this tool to explain why joining the Künstlersozialkasse is worth it. It replaces a vague table with explanations.
24 days ago
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The latest edition of my monthly newsletter is out:
allaboutberlin.com/newsletter/j...
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What's new in January 2026
Berlin rent map, changes to medical cannabis law and what to expect in 2026
https://allaboutberlin.com/newsletter/january-2026
27 days ago
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My Berlin rent map is live!
allaboutberlin.com/tools/rent-map
It shows the median rent per m² in each neighbourhood. This will help newcomers budget their flat search. The housing data comes from Homeboy and Stekkies, who make bots to help your apartment search.
about 1 month ago
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Current project: mapping median rent per m² for each neighbourhood
about 2 months ago
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Combined map: Berlin tram stops and the wall surrounding West Berlin.
about 2 months ago
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I started an All About Berlin newsletter with monthly updates:
allaboutberlin.com/newsletter
about 2 months ago
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I just found this brilliant calendar of Berlin Christmas markets:
charles.pizza/berlin-xmas/
about 2 months ago
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Parents of Berlin, where do you find help? Can you recommend English-speaking parenting communities and resources?
about 2 months ago
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I am adding a field to my residence permit feedback form. This should give us hard data about which health insurance the LEA accepts. This is especially important for freelancers.
about 2 months ago
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The Berlin Senate is trying to close the loophole that allows landlords to charge extortionate rents. Wunderflats is encouraging its users to petition against it. Their version of the facts is... creative.
about 2 months ago
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I have refreshed my Anmeldung appointment finder. What do you think of this design?
2 months ago
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Berlin.de's
bot prevention algorithm was blocking clicks from All About Berlin. When clicking a link to book an appointment, you might see this error message. I have found the cause and I am deploying a fix.
2 months ago
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Residence permit feedback, before and after
2 months ago
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When I started measuring immigration office wait times, I did not plan to get this many responses. I did not design for this at all. Just look at the pagination buttons!
2 months ago
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Citizenship after 3 years was officially abolished. In Berlin, it was only 1% of approved citizenship applications.
2 months ago
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Adi just got his driving licence and wrote about it. I'm stealing more and more advice from him. Give his job board and blog a visit.
www.arbeitnow.com/blog/drivers...
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How I got a driving license in Germany
https://www.arbeitnow.com/blog/drivers-license-in-germany
3 months ago
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The German minimum wage will be €13.90 from January 1, 2026.
www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktu...
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Mindestlohn steigt zum 1. Januar | Bundesregierung
Der gesetzliche Mindestlohn wird in zwei Schritten steigen: zum 1. Januar 2026 auf 13,90 und ein Jahr später auf 14,60 brutto in der Stunde.
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/mindestlohn-steigt-2391010
3 months ago
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I'm a big fan of the European Commission style guide. It answers all my little questions about how to write amounts, price ranges, dates...
commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-11/styleguide_english_dgt_en.pdf
I'm writing more and more tiny components to display things the same way everywhere.
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https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-11/styleguide_english_dgt_en.pdf
3 months ago
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I'm adding instant, accurate private health insurance quotes to my calculator. No more "write an email to book a call to get a quote". What do you think of the design?
3 months ago
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The Berlin immigration office departments have changed. Make sure you submit your residence permit applications to the right place!
www.berlin.de/einwanderung...
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Contact to departments A, B, F and M (right of residence) - Berlin.de
Contact forms for departments A, B, F and M (right of residence) in the Berlin Immigration Office (Landesamt für Einwanderung)
https://www.berlin.de/einwanderung/en/about-us/contact/artikel.1500715.en.php
4 months ago
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My Bürgeramt appointment finder is back online! The tool:
allaboutberlin.com/tools/appoin...
The code change:
github.com/All-About-Be...
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Anmeldung appointment finder
Use this bot to find an Anmeldung appointment at the Bügeramt in Berlin.
https://allaboutberlin.com/tools/appointment-finder
4 months ago
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An update about my appointment finder:
Berlin.de
added new anti-bot measures in August. Their devs helped me figure out what's wrong. I will try a different approach, and hope it fixes the issue.
4 months ago
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All About Berlin is 8 years old!
4 months ago
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My Bürgeramt appointment finder is down since 6 August. I'm working to get it back online. Two lessons: 1. I would have caught it earlier if I had proper error monitoring and alerting in place. 2. Don't build castles on quicksand.
4 months ago
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Did you become a German citizen recently? I need your feedback! I created a page to measure wait times at the Berlin citizenship office. The more data we have, the more useful it will be.
allaboutberlin.com/guides/citiz...
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Berlin citizenship wait times
See how long it takes to get German citizenship in Berlin.
https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/citizenship-wait-times
4 months ago
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Should I add comments to All About Berlin? It has been on my mind for a few months now. I am picturing something similar to Reddit and Hacker News, with threaded comments and vote counts.
5 months ago
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I have (once again) rewritten my student health insurance guide. I followed a few communities for months, noting what confuses students and where the existing advice fails them. This update gives better guidance in a simpler format.
allaboutberlin.com/guides/germa...
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German health insurance for students
This guide explains how to choose the best German health insurance for students.
https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/german-health-insurance/for-students
5 months ago
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Happy Sexual Health Day! Like everything else in Berlin, getting tested for STIs is much harder than it should be. Doctors are hard to find, appointments are hard to get, and wait times are measured in weeks. My updated STI testing guide should help:
allaboutberlin.com/guides/std-t...
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How to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases in Berlin
This is how you get tested for HIV, herpes, chlamydia and other STDs in Berlin.
https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/std-testing
5 months ago
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This tool helps you find English-language movies in Berlin. It's so clean and simple! -
ov-berlin.info/movies/
5 months ago
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The browser sends us the user's preferred language. I could use this to show language-specific placeholders. How about "Alex Mustermann" in German or "Wei Zhang" in Mandarin? I already use this technique to recommend countries at the top of my country picker.
6 months ago
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I have built a new letter generator to do your Abmeldung by email. As recommended by experts, it gives multiple fallback options for sending the deregistration certificate, because each Bürgeramt does it differently.
6 months ago
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I have made a series of small improvements to my resignation letter generator. I wrote a short blog post about it here:
nicolasbouliane.com/blog/resigna...
6 months ago
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I am leaving Frankfurt with a few ideas of how to simplify health insurance for immigrants, and none of them involve AI, only good information, a smoother user experience and a few efficiency tweaks. Step one: build the infrastructure to make it happen.
nicolasbouliane.com/blog/insuran...
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Building an insurance case tracker - Nicolas Bouliane
Our first step towards building an insurance business.
https://nicolasbouliane.com/blog/insurance-dev-diary
6 months ago
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Discovery of the day: Queermed, a database of queer-friendly doctors and therapists, with language filters.
queermed-deutschland.de/en/look-for-...
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Look for sensitized doctors or therapists on Queermed
More than 1700 recommendations for sentitized doctors and therapists in Germany. Find a recommendation now!
https://queermed-deutschland.de/en/look-for-recommendations/
6 months ago
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All About Berlin is losing half of its traffic to ChatGPT and Google AI summaries, but don't worry, I have a plan:
nicolasbouliane.com/blog/health-...
6 months ago
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Most of my days consist of improving the same content over and over again. This is disability insurance, before and after. It's more complete, easier to read, better connected with related content, and backed by more sources.
6 months ago
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Destatis updated their income data. The median income is now €47,736/y (up 4.8%). There is a €3,600/y gap between the median income for men and for women.
www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pr...
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Der Durchschnittsmensch in Deutschland: Wie er lebt, wohnt und arbeitet
Ob von jung bis alt, von klein bis groß oder von arm bis reich: Mal angenommen, ein Mensch in Deutschland stünde für alle 83,6 Millionen, die hier leben. Dann wäre dieser Durchschnittsmensch 44,9 Jahr...
https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2025/07/PD25_N037_12_62.html
6 months ago
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Friday update: a ton of small changes, and a dozen new English-speaking doctors, lawyers and therapists.
allaboutberlin.com/collections/...
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Where to find...
Guides for finding what you need in Berlin
https://allaboutberlin.com/collections/where-to-find
6 months ago
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Have you used TaskRabbit? Driller Queens? Little Big Project? I would love to hear about your experience hiring a Handwerker to drill holes, install lights or paint walls. How much did it cost you?
6 months ago
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Traffic from ChatGPT shows that it hallucinates All About Berlin pages, and cites them as a source.
7 months ago
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I am disappointed that nobody noticed the 50% more rounded corners. It took a lot of sanding.
7 months ago
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I think about this passage from "Doing Business in Japan" a lot. German and Japanese bureaucracy have a lot in common.
7 months ago
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Friends, I'd like your feedback. What do you wish someone told you about public health insurance? How did it surprise you? How did it disappoint you? I am still stuck on the multi-month long rewrite of my health insurance advice, but trust me, it will be worth it.
7 months ago
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