Registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung)
When you register, you will receive a certificate. Prostitutes must have this certificate on them when they work in order, for example, to be able to show it to a brothel operator, the owner of an escort agency, or during an official inspection. The registration certificate is valid throughout Germany. Federal states may, however, issue their own additional rules about where the registration certificate is valid.
The registration certificate is valid for two years for persons over 21, and just one year for persons under 21. In addition to the registration certificate issued in your real name, the public authority can issue you with what is called an “alias certificate” (Alias-Bescheinigung) on request. Instead of your real name, the alias certificate will be issued in a name of your choosing, i.e. an alias (e.g. work name, pseudonym). It also does not have your address on it. Such an alias certificate allows you to prove that you are registered without anyone, such as the operator, knowing your real name or where you live.
The registration authority may not issue a registration certificate if the prostitute
- is younger than 18;
- is younger than 21 and other people have caused them to take up prostitution or continue with prostitution;
- is coerced into taking up or continuing prostitution;
- is pregnant and will give birth within the next six weeks.