International migration between economically highly developed countries is a central component of global migration flows. Still, surprisingly little is known about the international mobility of the populations of these affluent societies. The aim of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) is to collect data to analyse the individual consequences of international migration as well as the consequences for the country of origin. GERPS is based on an origin-based multistage probability sample using the German population registers as a sampling frame. The realised net sample includes more than 11,000 persons who recently moved abroad from Germany and persons returning to Germany after having lived abroad. The study follows a multi-destination country design and allows comparative analyses of migrants and non-migrants who stayed in the country of origin. GERPS is a panel study with at least four waves during a period of at least 24 months. This documentation, however, presents the methodology and the data for the first wave providing the baseline survey. Detailed information is provided to invite external researchers to apply the new data infrastructure to their own research and to disseminate the innovative research design to construct migrant samples.