A total of around 700 employees work for the Hamburg Service vor Ort, with most of them working in the offices for residents' affairs (Einwohnerangelegenheiten), foreigners' affairs (Ausländerangelegenheiten) and in the central registration office (Zentrales Meldewesen). There is also an administrative department (Intendanzabteilung) which is for example responsible for personnel administration and IT as well as the management department (Fachsteuerung), which ensures that the efficiency and quality of administrative services are continually improved across all locations.
Hamburg Service vor Ort: Residents’ Affairs
The Hamburg Service vor Ort offices across Hamburg take care of all resident’s affairs, including all services formerly carried out by the Einwohnermeldeamt or Kundenzentrum: registration and changes in address, issuing identity cards and passports, as well as written records from the resident register (Melderegister) are some of many services offered. This also includes services from other authorities, for example dog registration and fishing licenses as well as church disaffiliation (Kirchenaustritt). In 2022 alone, the offices for residents' affairs processed 1.3 million service acts for Hamburg residents.
Hamburg Service vor Ort: Foreigners’ Affairs
The Hamburg Service offices for foreigners’ affairs are the central points of contact for the administrative interests of foreign nationals with a secure residence status, which includes foreign nationals who are already in Germany and have a residence permit or visa, as well as foreign nationals who are authorised to enter the country without a visa. The administrative services carried out by the offices include the initial issue, extension or transfer of residence permits (Aufenthaltserlaubnis) and the processing of declarations of commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung).
Hamburg Service vor Ort: Central Registration Office
Key tasks of the central registration offices (Zentrales Melderwesen) include the processing of bans on information (Auskunftssperre), reasons for exclusion from elections (Wahlausschlussgründe) and certificates of eligibility for political office (Wählbarkeitsbescheinigung), written records from the residents’ register (Auskunft aus dem Melderegister), the issuing of residence and registration certificates (Aufenthalts- und Meldebescheinigungen), the recording of reasons for passport refusal (Passversagungsgründe), the recording of artists' names and aliases, and the settling of legal registration cases (Klärung melderechtlicher Angelegenheiten) with foreign authorities.
Hamburg Service vor Ort: Administration and Management
The administrative department (Intendanz) continuously adapts to the residents’ needs and ensures good working conditions for officials and other personnel on site. Among its responsibilities are staff recruitment, continuous vocational training of employees and optimisation of work processes. All tasks of the administrative department are clustered in the management department (Betriebssteuerung) which consists of the following units: IT, internal services, finance and human resources/organisation/legal. The management department is responsible for addressing technical issues as well as the coordination of the authorities involved, the efficiency of the local offices, and the operation of the offices in the four regions (the local offices are divided into four regions, with each location manager reporting to and receiving technical support from the responsible regional manager).
In conclusion, the administrative department and the management department support the local offices in achieving the common goals: shorter waiting times, faster appointment allocation, reliable opening hours and good working conditions for the employees.
Optimising Services
Hamburg Service vor Ort aims to improve the administrative services for residents and foreigners at all local offices by making more services digitally available while keeping in touch with the customers at many on-site locations throughout Hamburg. The provision of services is managed centrally to ensure continuous further development, with a particular focus being on the availability of appointments from the customers' point of view. We are constantly developing new measures to improve the processing of appointment requests. After each completed interaction, we kindly ask our customers to rate our services in order to better take into account their perspectives and needs.
Future Online Services and Digital Transformation
In cooperation with the Senatskanzlei (Hamburg’s governing body), the Hamburg Service vor Ort is working on making more and more administrative services digitally available. It is already possible to register a change of address of a one-person household within Hamburg entirely online, and we are currently working on making registration available as an online service for everyone – including new arrivals. The Passda service also makes it possible to track the processing status of an ID card or passport online if it was applied for in Hamburg. In addition, certificates of good conduct can already be applied for online, and most of the procedure for renewing a residence permit can also be done digitally.
The online services are supplementary; all digital services can also still be carried out on site at the local offices.
This Is New from 1 April 2023
Hamburg Service vor Ort was founded on 1 April 2023 as a new organisational unit within the authorities responsible for the districts: the Ministry of Science, Research, Equality and Districts. This new administrative entity combines the offices for residents' and foreigners' affairs, formerly known as Kundenzentren, and the Central Registration Office (Zentrales Meldewesen), which were previously located exclusively at the seven district offices. However, this does not affect the provision of administrative services.
The establishment of this new organisational unit was grounded on significant waiting times for appointments and high staff turnover in the departments detected in 2016. The reorganisation followed a thorough review and optimisation process. For more information on the founding history and the goals of Hamburg Service vor Ort, see this document (German only).
By establishing Hamburg Service vor Ort, the range of administrative services for the current and future residents of Hamburg will be improved, making access to these services more transparent and efficient. In the restructuring process, synergies and resources will be utilised more efficiently and working conditions will be improved. The decentralised structure of the offices was retained to maintain the broad availability of local services for all residents.