Getting your residence permit

When you arrive in Germany and are starting PEESE, one of the most important things you need to accomplish is to obtain you residence permit. Here I attempt to outline what is needed for this process.

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PLEASE NOTE: Visas and Residents Permits are a relatively serious issue, and in many cases your situation in Germany is completely dependent on the country you come from. As with all of the information on this site, please take this information as a starting point to finding your answers. There is no guarantee that this info is up to date or accurate.

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To begin, foreigners need a residence permit to stay in Germany for more than 3 months. This means you need one to complete PEESE. Residence permits to study are generally for 2 years and are issued by the foreigner's office in Berlin, called the Ausländerbehörde (http://www.berlin.de/labo/auslaender/dienstleistungen/).

Your status as a foreigner places you in one of two general categories:

1) those who need to apply for a visa before coming to Germany

2) those who can enter Germany without applying for a passport and simply get a stamp in their passport on arrival

You can determine which category you belong to by checking the internet for information on obtaining visas to Germany.

The procedure for getting your residence permit differs depending on which group you belong to. So I will briefly explain both.

a) FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO APPLY FOR A VISA TO COME TO GERMANY

after arriving in Germany with the visa you applied for in your passport you need to:

1) register at the Bürgeramt (info about that in another article)

2) open a German bank account

3) apply for health insurance

4) matriculate/enroll at the Campus Center at the university

5) print a bank statement showing you have at least approximately 8000€

6) bring passport and documents showing that you have completed steps 1-5 to the Auslanderbehörde.

b) FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT NEED A VISA BEFORE COMING TO GERMANY

1) register at the Bürgeramt (info about that in another article)

2) open a German bank account

3) apply for health insurance

4) print a bank statement showing you have at least approximately 8000€ in a German bank account. (Technically, you are required to have this money in a blocked account, which means an account that only allows you to take out around 700€ per month. However, in practice this requirement is not always enforced, and some banks even try to avoid creating such accounts.)

5) bring passport and documents showing that you have completed steps 1-4 to the Auslanderbehörde, as well as proof of acceptance to the university.

6) matriculate/enroll at the Campus Center at the university

The main difference is that for students without a visa, you cannot enroll at that university until you receive your residence permit. However, you have a limited time to enroll at the university (something like 2 weeks), and sometimes you need more time than that to complete the previous steps. If this is the case, you can go to the Campus Center and ask for an extension for your deadline to enroll.

The Auslanderbehörde has limited hours, and if you dont have an appointment, you usually need to take a number and wait in line. They only give out a certain amount of numbers every day, so it is best if you arrive early, even before it opens. However, there are other options. There is an office in the main building (Hauptgebäude) on campus where they take your documents and send them to the Auslanderbehörde. However, if you do this, you dont really have control over when they complete the process and give you your residence permit (and they take your passport, so you dont have it while you are waiting). There are also special opening times at the Auslanderbehörde for students, but they may not be on the website, so you will have to do some research to find out.