How many places of residence (Wohnsitze) can I have?

While there is no restriction to the number of places of residence that someone can have, it is only possible to have one principle/main place of residence (HauptwohnsitzHauptwohnsitz Your Hauptwohnsitz is your principle place of residence, i.e. where you typically have the centre of your vital interests. Other residences are known as Nebenwohnsitze.). You can have more than one NebenwohnsitzZweitwohnsitz Secondary places of residence (e.g. holiday homes that you spend some time in yourself, pied-à-terres, granny flats) are known as Zweitwohnsitze (in legal terms) or Nebenwohnsitze (in common parlance). While you may reside at a secondary residence for part of the time, it does not constitute the centre of your vital interests. It is of course possible to change your residence status (i.e. from your Zweitwohnsitz to Hauptwohnsitz - known as Ummeldung) to reflect changes in circumstances, although you should be aware that "flipping" is not intended for short-term changes and that doing so can affect the status of grants etc. contingent on the location of your vital interests. (e.g. an apartment in a ski resort, a house by a lake, a bolthole in the city), and there is no limitation on the number of provinces you have them in. Some provinces do place restrictions on the acquisition of property by foreigners purely for recreational purposes (i.e. use as Nebenwohnsitz for say only a couple of weeks per year).