Kindergeld in Frankfurt: The Office You Visit Isn't the Address You Mail To

The Official Rule

Kindergeld is Germany’s monthly child benefit, administered by the Familienkasse (a branch of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and paid to nearly every family raising a child under 18, longer if the child is still in school, training, or between the two. As of January 2026 it pays 259 euros a month for each child, up from 255 euros the year before, and the Familienkasse adjusts existing payments automatically, so nobody already receiving it needs to file anything new for the increase to apply.

For a foreign family, the real gate isn’t the paperwork, it’s the residence permit you’re holding when you apply. Section 62 of the Einkommensteuergesetz lays out exactly which permit types count, and the list is narrower, and more nuanced, than “any legal resident” would suggest. A settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or EU long-term residence status clears the bar automatically. So does an EU Blue Card, an ICT Card, or a standard work permit valid for six months or more, with two distinct carve-out groups. Training permits, au-pair and seasonal work permits, and voluntary-service permits are excluded outright, no exception. A study permit and a general skilled-worker job-seeker permit under Section 20, by contrast, are excluded only conditionally: both still qualify if you’re already employed, on parental leave, or drawing unemployment benefit while holding them. Certain humanitarian residence titles qualify as well, either because you’re working, on parental leave, or receiving defined benefits, or because you’ve simply held the permit lawfully for 15 months or longer.

Once eligibility is settled, the paperwork itself is fairly mechanical. Every application starts with the main form, KG1 (Antrag auf Kindergeld), plus a separate KG1-AnK (Anlage Kind) for each individual child you’re claiming for, since the Familienkasse tracks eligibility per child, not per family. If you don’t hold German, EU, EEA, or Swiss citizenship, you also attach KG51 (Anlage Ausland), which is where your residence permit gets documented. For most children under 18, the Familienkasse mainly needs your tax identification number (Steuer-ID) and your child’s, both of which the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern issues automatically once a child is registered in Germany, typically arriving by post within about three months of birth or registration.

In Frankfurt specifically, applications and questions go to Familienkasse Hessen’s Frankfurt location, at Emil-von-Behring-Str. 8, 60439 Frankfurt. Here’s the detail that catches newcomers off guard: this office is a walk-in point, not a mailing address. Visiting hours are Tuesday 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 4pm, and Thursday 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 5pm, closed every other day of the week, a schedule Familienkasse Hessen confirmed in an official 2025 update to its Frankfurt opening hours. Anything you mail, your application included, has to go to a different city entirely: the postal address is Familienkasse Hessen, 34196 Kassel, and Familienkasse Hessen’s own guidance says to use that postal address exclusively for written correspondence, not the Frankfurt street address you’d visit in person. The free service line, 0800 4 5555 30, covers general Kindergeld and Kinderzuschlag questions, and 0800 4 5555 33 handles payment-date questions specifically. One more routing detail worth knowing: if a parent works in the public sector (öffentlicher Dienst) or a child has a disability, the file typically goes to the Zentraler Kindergeldservice instead of this regional office, so it’s worth confirming which office is actually yours before you submit anything.

Familienkasse Hessen, Frankfurt visitor office: Emil-von-Behring-Str. 8, 60439 Frankfurt. Open Tuesday and Thursday only. Mail everything to the postal address instead: Familienkasse Hessen, 34196 Kassel.

Photo by Andreas Resch on Pexels

What Real People Say

The residence permit rule isn’t just a technicality on paper, it shows up in real rejections. One case shared on Handbook Germany’s community forum involved someone whose permit had shifted from a study permit (Section 16b) to a job-seeker permit (Section 20) after finishing a master’s degree, with work authorization attached. The Familienkasse turned the application down anyway, because a Section 20 permit on its own, without actual employment, parental leave, or unemployment benefit alongside it, falls back into the excluded category regardless of having full work-market access on paper. Forum volunteers pointed toward a concrete fix: confirm and document actual employment, or check with the Ausländerbehörde whether a real job offer could upgrade the permit, and if a rejection still arrives, file a written objection within one month rather than treating the first no as final.

A second forum thread, from an EU citizen who’d moved to Germany for graduate study with a small job on the side, is a useful contrast worth flagging given Frankfurt’s large population of EU nationals working in banking and finance: Handbook Germany’s forum discussion on Kindergeld eligibility notes that EU and EEA citizens generally skip the residence-permit test entirely, but anyone who moved to Germany after August 2019 usually only becomes eligible from the fourth month after arrival, once freedom-of-movement conditions like employment or sufficient means and insurance are actually in place. For a French, Italian, or Dutch banker recently relocated to Frankfurt, that three-month gap is worth planning around rather than assuming EU citizenship means Kindergeld from day one.

Step by Step

1. Check your specific residence permit against Section 62 EStG before you do anything else. If you’re not sure whether your permit type qualifies, or if a permit upgrade is realistically weeks away, it’s worth a quick call to the Familienkasse before you invest time in the rest of the paperwork.
2. Confirm both Steuer-IDs are in hand. If your child was born or registered in Germany, the number should arrive by post within about three months; request it directly from the BZSt if that window passes without one.
3. Line up a certified translation of any foreign birth certificate early, through a sworn translator, rather than waiting for the Familienkasse to request one after the fact.
4. Fill out KG1, one KG1-AnK per child, and KG51 (Anlage Ausland) if you’re not an EU, EEA, or Swiss citizen, attaching proof of your qualifying residence permit.
5. Mail your application to Familienkasse Hessen, 34196 Kassel, not the Frankfurt street address. If you need to visit in person instead, the Emil-von-Behring-Str. 8 office is only open Tuesday and Thursday.
6. If you’re a public-sector employee or your child has a disability, confirm whether the Zentraler Kindergeldservice, not the regional Frankfurt office, is actually responsible for your file.
7. If six weeks pass with no word, call 0800 4 5555 30 to check on the status rather than waiting indefinitely.
8. Don’t let the file sit. Back pay only ever covers the six months before the month your application arrives, so a delay of even a few extra weeks can permanently cost you money you were otherwise entitled to.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general framework for applying for Kindergeld in Frankfurt, but this is not legal or financial advice, and specific rules, forms, addresses, and office hours can change. For your specific situation, confirm current details directly with Familienkasse Hessen.