Permit about to expire and no appointment?
Apply for the renewal in writing before it expires. The permit then stays valid until the immigration office decides.
Fiktionsbescheinigung page 3
Bis zur Entscheidung der Ausländerbehörde über diesen Antrag gilt
First box: your stay in Germany is lawful. The certificate does not let you re-enter Germany, and you may work only if the certificate says so.
Second box: the application was late; only your deportation is suspended. If you leave Germany, this protection ends, and you may work only with the permission of the authority.
Third box: your previous permit stays valid. You may work as before and, with a valid passport and the expired permit, travel within the Schengen area and re-enter Germany.
What the law says
If you apply to renew your residence permit before it expires, the permit counts as continuing from its expiry date until the immigration office decides. The office must issue a certificate of this effect: the Fiktionsbescheinigung (a certificate of your pending application).
Section 81(4) and (5) of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz, German text)
The application needs no form and no appointment. A letter that shows you want the renewal is enough. What matters is that it reaches the office before the expiry date and that you can prove it.
Three steps
- Find your office. Enter your postcode or town. We have the postal address of 527 immigration offices.
- Fill in the application. The form is in English. The letter is written in German for the office, and you see it at once.
- Send it by registered post. We print the letter and hand it to Deutsche Post. The postal service records when it was delivered to the office's letterbox.
You send the office's own form and your documents later. The letter asks the office to tell you what is missing and to give you an appointment.
You can also do this free of charge
Many immigration offices accept the application through their own online form, a contact form or by e-mail, at no cost. In Berlin, for example, a message through the contact form of the Landesamt für Einwanderung counts as the application when the permit expires within the next four weeks. Check your office's website first; the search above links to it.
Our letter is for people who cannot get through there or who want proof from the postal service. It is a standard template. We do not review your case and we do not give legal advice.
When the letter does not help
- Schengen visa: the rule does not apply to a visa for short stays.
- Date on the card already passed: check first whether the permit continues anyway, for example because you applied before that date. If it does not, an application made now no longer keeps it valid by itself; the office can order that in a case of hardship. Apply today and tell the office why you apply only now.
- Fewer than five working days left: a letter can arrive too late. Hand the application in yourself or use the office's online form or e-mail address, and keep proof.