Health : Co-payments (Zuzahlungen) in public health insurance rise by 50% from January 1, 2027. The change is part of the GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz. What you will pay: [1]
Prescription medicines: 10% of the price, at least €7.50 and at most €15 per item.
Hospital stays: €15 per day.
Heilmittel (e.g. physiotherapy) and home nursing care: 10% of the cost plus €15 per prescription.
The annual cap on co-payments stays unchanged: 2% of gross household income, or 1% for chronically ill people. [2]
Health : The average additional contribution (Zusatzbeitrag) for public health insurance stays at 2.9% in 2027. The Federal Health Ministry set the rate on October 30, 2026. Insurers currently charge 3.13% on average, because many are still refilling their reserves. Individual insurers can still adjust their rates for 2027. [3]
Travel : Deutschlandticket rises from €63 to €66.80 per month on January 1, 2027. If your transport company asks you to confirm the new price, you must actively agree; otherwise, your subscription can end. If you hear nothing, the price change applies automatically. [4][5]
Travel : Deutsche Bahn's €99.99 family ticket is back, and this time it is permanent. Before, it was only a summer-holiday offer. Now you can book it all year: sales started on October 26 for trips from November 1. [6][7]
One flat price for the whole group, not per person: €99.99 for a return trip or €59.99 one way on ICE, IC, and EC trains within Germany. If part of the trip uses regional trains, it costs €143.99 return or €81.99 one way.
Who can travel: at least one person aged 15+ and one child. The maximum is 2 people aged 15+ with 3 children, or 1 person aged 15+ with 4 children. You do not need to be related.
Seat reservations for up to 5 people are included, so you do not pay extra to sit together. Also add children aged 0–5 when you search, so they get a free reserved seat[8]
Pension : Last chance for Riester: you can sign a contract under the old rules until December 31, 2026. From January 2027, the new Altersvorsorgedepot (AV-Depot) replaces Riester. Riester can still pay off for low-income families with several children: [9]
Two children: €775 in allowances for a €60 annual contribution if your prior-year income was at most €20,875.
Three children: up to €1,075 in allowances for €60 if your prior-year income was at most €28,375.
Your contribution must reach the provider by December 31, 2026. Compare the signing, running, and transfer costs first.
Everyone else does not need to rush. BaFin says new AV-Depot contracts open from January 1, 2027, the state adds up to €540 per year, and you still get the full 2027 subsidy if you sign later in 2027. [10]
Proposed : Elterngeld will stay at up to 14 months. The Family Ministry dropped its plan to cut it to 12 months. The new plan (4-6-4 model): [11]
4 months reserved for each parent, plus 6 months the parents can split freely. Single parents get up to 14 months.
80% of previous net income in the reserved months (today 65%), and 50% in all other months.
Minimum rate rises from €300 to €330, maximum rate from €1,800 to €1,900.
Proposed : Wohngeld cuts face heavy criticism in the Bundestag. It suspends the regular Wohngeld increase and halves the heating-cost component. The tenants' association (Deutscher Mieterbund) expects up to 500,000 recipients to lose Wohngeld, and the Paritätischer welfare association says 163,000 households would have to rely on Grundsicherung instead. [12]
Proposed : Experts criticized the government's annual tax bill (Jahressteuergesetz 2026) at a Bundestag hearing on November 2. The bill is not law yet and can still change. If passed, most changes apply from 2027. What it proposes, and what the critics said: [13]
Night, Sunday, and holiday bonuses: these bonuses are tax-free up to a percentage of your hourly "base pay". [14] Critics: the trade union federation DGB said the workers with the hardest hours should not lose tax-free bonuses, and business groups warned of extra paperwork.
Interest on tax back-payments and refunds: it would double from 0.15% to 0.3% per month (from 1.8% to 3.6% per year) from 2027. This means you pay more if you owe tax late, but you also get more when a refund comes late. The Federal Chamber of Tax Advisers said the interest rules should be reformed as a whole instead.
Immigration : Blue Card salary thresholds are expected to rise on January 1, 2027. They are tied to the pension contribution ceiling, which the cabinet set at €106,200 per year (€8,850 per month) for 2027. The Bundesrat still has to approve it. [16]
Regular Blue Card: €53,100 gross per year (€4,425 per month).
Shortage occupations and recent graduates: €48,108.60 gross per year (€4,009.05 per month).
Skilled workers over 45: €58,410 gross per year (€4,867.50 per month). [17]
Law : New rules for online shopping in November.[18]
Small loans up to €200, including "buy now, pay later", come under consumer credit protection rules from November 20. Providers must check more carefully whether you can afford the purchase. [19]
Since November 1, a €2 customs handling fee applies to parcels with online orders from outside the EU worth up to €150. It is charged per product category in the parcel, on top of the €3 flat customs duty in place since July 2026.
It's not uncommon to wait several months for your family reunion visa, citizenship, Blue Card, etc. However, you don't have to.
Here are your options to push your application forward.
Send a formal letter to the authority requesting a status update. You can do it yourself or get support from a lawyer. Authorities reply to letters from lawyers more often than to letters from people like us.
File a lawsuit. Depending on which visa you applied for, you should wait 4 to 12 months before taking this step. You can file the lawsuit yourself or get support from a lawyer if you have a complex case. It's better to hire a lawyer than to do it yourself.
File for provisional injunction relief. This tool helps in emergency situations, such as separation from a newborn or minor child, job loss, or any irreparable harm caused by the delay that you can prove. By filing for provisional injunction relief, you get a decision within 2 to 4 weeks.
If you are not sure which option makes the most sense in your situation, you can get a free case assessment from the law firm (LegalWeg*) we recommend.
Deadline : The deadline to file the 2025 income tax return (Steuererklärung) has passed. If you missed the deadline, you can hire a tax advisor. The deadline with a tax advisor extends to March 1, 2027.
Deadline : Car insurance: cancel by November 30, 2026 to switch for next year. For many policies, the notice period ends that day, because the insurance year ends on December 31. [20]
Deadline : Apply for a 2026 income tax reduction (Lohnsteuer-Ermäßigung) by November 30. If you have high costs such as long commutes or training, this lowers your monthly tax. Your work-related costs and extraordinary expenses must exceed €600 and the €1,230 employee lump sum. Applications for 2027 opened on November 1. [21]
Warning : Avoid cold medicines with pseudoephedrine. The German pharmacists' drug commission recorded 51 suspected side-effect cases, mostly heart and circulation problems such as a racing heart and rising blood pressure. Affected combination products include Aspirin Complex, Boxagrippal, Grippal Complex Doppelherz, Grippostad Complex, Ibu-1A Pharma Grippal, Ratiogrippal, Reactine Duo, Rhinopront Kombi, and Wick DayNait. [24]
Phishing : The following phishing attempts have been reported. [25]
Deutsche Bank: "Dokumentenprüfung zur Einhaltung der Geldwäscheverordnung!" asks you to upload your ID, proof of address, and tax ID, and threatens to block your account.
ELSTER: claims you must update your data or your tax return will be delayed.
Product Recall : The following products have been recalled.
Alnatura recalled Pinienkerne (60 g) and Salatkerne-Mix (100 g) over Salmonella. Do not eat them. [26]
dennree recalled Pinienkerne (60 g) over Salmonella. [27]
dm recalled dmBio Pinienkerne (60 g) over Salmonella. [28]
EDEKA recalled EDEKA Bio Soft-Aprikosen (180 g) over elevated ochratoxin A (a mould toxin). [30]
For emergencies:
BSI Lagezentrum: +49 228 999582 5110
BaFin Consumer Protection: consumer@bafin.de
Police: 110
Fire bridage and ambulance: 112
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Launch : OpenAI launched Images 2.6 in ChatGPT and Codex on all plans. It generates images 50% faster, keeps characters and products consistent across edits, and can now create GIFs.
News : OpenAI's new security model GPT-6 Cyber found 81 previously unknown high-severity vulnerabilities in Firefox. Mozilla has released fixes for many of them, so keep your browser updated. The model is only available to approved security teams.
Learn : You don't need clever prompts. Say what you want, and let the AI ask you questions. Addy Osmani, who works on Claude Code at Anthropic, says newer models need less prompting than most of us still use. Give one clear goal and tell the AI how it can check that it is done. If you are not sure what you want yet, ask it to interview you first. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick adds one tip: ask the AI to show you a draft or idea along the way, so you can steer it before it finishes. See the post on X.
Latest News
Inflation eased to 2.8% in October 2026 (September: 3.3%). Energy was still 12.2% more expensive than a year ago. [32]
Unemployment fell by 40,000 to 2,955,000 in October, a rate of 6.3%. That is 44,000 more than a year earlier. [33]
The minimum wage rises from €13.90 to €14.60 per hour on January 1, 2027.[34] The Minijob earnings limit rises to €633 per month. [35]
Deutsche Post wants to raise the price of a standard letter from €0.95 to €1.15 from January 2027. The Bundesnetzagentur still has to approve the new prices. [36]
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New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Your unfair advantage in Germany Essentials Health : Emergency care reform (Notfallreform) approved. Here are the key takeaways. Hospitals will have a single entrance to triage patients. True emergencies will be sent to the ER and minor cases to an on-site GP. The 112 (emergency) and 116 117 (non-emergency) hotlines will be digitally linked to instantly route patients to the correct level of care via...
New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Your unfair advantage in Germany Essentials Health : Higher long-term care insurance (Pflegeversicherung) contributions from January 2027. The maximum income considered to calculate the premium will rise from €5,812.50 to €6,375. This impacts people who earn more than 6375€ gross. A single employee earning €6,300 gross will pay around 30€ more per month. A parent with one child at the same income will...
New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Your unfair advantage in Germany Essentials Energy : Germany will cut the energy tax on petrol and diesel by 14 cents per liter from October 1, 2026. Including the VAT effect, pump prices could fall by up to 17 cents per liter. Filling stations are not obliged to pass the full cut on to drivers. [1][2] Proposal : Germany’s 2027 social insurance thresholds proposed. The increase still needs cabinet and...
