Your Child's Foreign School Reports in Frankfurt: Placement Runs Through the ABZ, and Recognising a Certificate Is a Different Step

Two Different Questions

Parents often combine two things that the Hessian system keeps apart:

1. Where does my child go to school? That is a placement question, answered by the Staatliches Schulamt für die Stadt Frankfurt am Main.
2. Is a foreign school-leaving certificate worth a German one? That is a recognition question, answered by a central office in Darmstadt, and it concerns older teenagers and adults who want to start a training or further school education.

For a child who has just arrived, the first question matters. The second only appears much later, if ever.

Placement: Who Does What

The ABZ page describes the centre as the contact point for pupils with no or little German who move to Frankfurt from abroad. Its aim is to determine the child’s language and learning level and to find a suitable school, and it establishes the contact with the receiving school. You can reach it by phone at +49 69 4500 488-830, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9:00 to 12:00 and Tuesday and Thursday 14:00 to 15:00, and by email at abz.ffm@kultus.hessen.de. The city’s school registration page points language problems to the same office. One Frankfurt school’s own page adds that pupils with little German are admitted centrally through the ABZ and that a direct application is not possible at any Frankfurt school.

What to Prepare

The registration for children up to 17 is online. According to the ABZ, attach:

• the Frankfurt Meldebescheinigung (registration certificate),
• copies of the passports of the child and of one legal guardian.

The ABZ page says to set the browser language to German when submitting the form, and that the form can only be processed with all documents. The school contacts you for an admission appointment, and you take the documents with you. For a child with enough German, the Schulamt’s relocation page lists the Meldebescheinigung and the last three reports. Bring the reports in the original language, plus any translation you already have. Our guide to school enrollment covers the regular process for children who live here already.

What the ABZ Does With the Reports

The Hessian ABZ overview says the admission talk informs parents and pupils about the Hessian school system, the paths for intensive language support, the types of school with their transitions and leaving certificates, the schools in the area, the sequence of foreign languages and, where it exists, lessons in the home language and school transport. It adds:

• School-age children who do not have enough German attend an Intensivklasse or an Intensivkurs in primary or secondary school.
• Literacy courses are offered for those who have no schooling yet or have to learn the Latin alphabet.
• At vocational schools, language support runs in Intensivklassen under the name InteA.
• Compulsory schooling in Hesse applies to children aged 6 to 16, according to the ABZ overview.

For a child who moves from another German school, the relocation page says the current course of education must be continued first: Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, kooperative or integrierte Gesamtschule. The page does not spell out how this applies to a child from abroad, so the ABZ talk is where you find out which pathway fits the child’s reports. The Schulamt also advises if you cannot tell which type of school your child’s old school matches.

Once you have found the right school, the Schulamt asks you to apply to it in writing at the latest three days after registering your address at the Einwohnermeldeamt. If no place is found, you can use the Schulamt’s Aufnahmebogen and the office will look for a place. The page lists a phone line for each school type, for example +49 69 4500 488-140 for primary schools and +49 69 4500 488-340 for Haupt-, Real- and Gesamtschulen. Our page on the free school transport ticket explains how to travel to a school that is not around the corner.

Recognition: A Separate Procedure

The Hessian recognition procedure compares a foreign certificate with a German school qualification. It is for people with their main residence in Hesse, or a training or job place there, who want to start training or further school education. It is not for university admission, which is decided by the university. The central Anerkennungsstelle at the Staatliches Schulamt Darmstadt-Dieburg handles these requests for the whole state.

For translations, our guide to finding a sworn translator in Frankfurt shows the route. For a foreign university degree, a different body, the ZAB, is involved, as explained in our page on the ZAB Zeugnisbewertung.

Step by Step

1. Register your address at the Einwohnermeldeamt and get the Meldebescheinigung.
2. Register your child online with the Schulamt, with passports and the Meldebescheinigung.
3. Gather the last three reports in the original language, and a translation if you have one.
4. Call the ABZ if the child has little German, and book the admission talk.
5. Apply to the assigned or chosen school in writing within three days of your address registration.
6. Keep recognition for later, if your teenager wants to start training with a foreign school-leaving certificate.

Compliance Note

This guide summarises the pages of the Hessian Staatliche Schulämter, the City of Frankfurt and the Staatliches Schulamt Frankfurt as read in October 2026. Procedures, contacts and fees change, and each school sets its own admission appointment. This is not legal advice. Confirm the current steps with the ABZ or your Schulamt before you register.