What You Need to Know When You’re Moving to Hannover

Relocating to Hannover

With a top medical school and fantastic universities, there are a lot of opportunities in education. The presence of lots of large green areas, such as forests and massive parks, makes Hannover an appealing place to stay. The local people are friendly and welcoming, well used to the large influx of people traveling to the city to attend exhibitions.

About Hannover

Around 500,000 people call Hannover home and the city is relatively flat due to its position at the Leine River. Hannover’s population has been quite steady for the last 50 years, after the city enjoyed a large rise in the number of people moving to Hannover between 1945 and 1965. Vahrenwald-List is the most populated of Hannover’s boroughs and it is home to around 69,000 people.

German is the local language, but a lot of people living in Hannover also have a good grasp of English, especially young people such as university students. Signs written in both German and English can be found in many places around the city.

The Climate in Hannover

Hannover has an oceanic climate according to the Köppen climate classification, which means that its summers tend to be warm and its winters are cool.

Temperatures during the summer are typically around the 25°C mark, although on the hottest days during July and August it is not unheard of for the mercury to tip over 35°C. Winters can be wet and cold in Hannover, but the temperatures do not normally fall below freezing point for long.

Visas for Germany

Due to the fact that Germany is a member of the European Union, every citizen of a fellow EU country has the right to live and work in the country. People from other countries, unless they are visa-exempt nations, must have a visa before moving to Hannover.

Hannover adheres to the visa policy of the Schengen Area, which includes all 22 EU-member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The visa policies of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania are also very similar.

Citizens of other states need apply for a visa in their home country to move to Hannover and applications ought to be submitted to the German mission or consulate abroad. People from Australia, Japan, the US, Israel, Canada, Korea and New Zealand can enter Germany without a visa and apply for a residence permit upon arrival.

For more detailed information on this topic, please refer to our dedicated article on How to Get a German Visa.