How to get your residence permit in Germany

Is that the same thing as a visa? What if you’re a freelancer? Find out what to do.

Published in

N26 Magazine

7 min readApr 5, 2017

If you’re from outside the EU and you’ve decided to move to Germany, there’s one major piece of paperwork you need to take care of — the residence permit, or Aufenthaltstitel. This is the document that gets glued into your passport and provides legal status to live in Germany longer than the duration of your traveling visa. We’ve previously offered guides on how to open a bank account, how to register your address and how to get health insurance in Germany, because you’ll probably need proof of all three before you proceed. Before we get into all of that, let’s clarify some possible confusion.

The difference between a visa and a residence permit

A travel, business or student “visa” allows you to enter Germany and stay for up to 90 days. If you’re a citizen of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea or most of South America (full list here), you don’t need make a separate application to enter Germany. You can freely enter and exit the country through the regular process whereby a border agent inspects your passport and leaves a dated stamp. If you’re a citizen of China, India, Russia or most of Africa, you do have to make a separate visa application to enter Germany. This is not the same thing as a “residence permit,” which as the name implies, permits you to reside in Germany for a longer period of time. This article will explain how to apply for a residence permit, whether you intend to work for a company, work freelance, or work as an artist, or be a student at a university or language school, and how to eventually apply for permanent residence.

Applying for your residence permit as an employee

The first step in acquiring your German residence permit is to decide what you’ll be doing while living in Germany. If you’re interested in working for a company, you must be able to demonstrate that you’re a highly qualified applicant, and your company must prove to the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) that you deserve a position more than a German or EU citizen because of what’s known as the Priority Principle (Vorrangprinzip).

To get your residence permit to work in Germany, your application must include the following contents:

Valid passport — make sure your passport will not expire during the length of your residence permit
1 current 35mm x 45mm biometric photo — you can take one at any Fotofix booth located in U-Bahn stations around the country
Proof of income — your German bank statements will do
Proof of employment — your work contract will do
Proof of health insurance — your health insurance card will do
Proof of residence — your address registration (Meldebescheinigung) will do
Completed residence permit application form — also known as the Antrag auf Erteilung eines Aufenthaltstitels
Completed employment permission form — also known as the Antrag auf Erlaubnis einer Beschäftigung
Completed job description form — also known as the Stellenbeschreibung
€50 — €110 application fee, depending on the complexity of your case

If you’ve already taken care of the three major steps — bank account, address registration, health insurance — you should already be in good shape to apply. Your company will prepare your application documents and send them to the Foreigners’ Office, or Ausländerbehörde, and they will review your case. If you get approved, you’ll receive an appointment to come in person and pick up your new residence permit. If it’s your first time, you’ll receive an Aufenthaltserlaubnis, or limited permit that has an expiry date, which you can seek to renew before it expires. This is the easiest way to do it because your company will handle all the application forms, and you share the responsibility of proving you’re a highly qualified person who deserves the position.

Applying for your residence permit as a freelancer or artist, or being self-employed

The situation is slightly different if you’re interested in working, but not in full-time employment at a company. You have to be able to show you can sufficiently finance your life and your career without being a burden to the state. This applies to work in a variety of fields, including the arts. If you’re a freelance artist, journalist or musician, you must be able to demonstrate both a body of work and upcoming projects. To get your residence permit in Germany as a freelancer, your application must include the following contents:

Valid passport
1 current biometric photo
Proof of health insurance
Proof of residence
Completed residence permit application form
Curriculum Vitae (CV) — an updated document detailing your professional career, your diploma, any qualification certificates, any references or sponsors
Financing plan — this document details how much money you have to finance your employment, including liquid funds, tangible assets, loans and venture capital
Revenue forecast — otherwise known as a profit/loss statement that details your projected expenses including your rent, insurance fees and taxes for the next three years
€50 — €110 application fee, depending on the complexity of your case

If you’re going to be completely self-employed, you need everything above, plus a few additional documents:

Company profile — this document details all the relevant information about your company including official proof of its existence, names of managing directors, total equity, annual turnover, official business address in your city, official function and more
Capital requirement plan — this document details all the potential costs you may incur or may require funding for to start your company, including office renovations, licensing fees, vehicle rentals and more
Business concept — this is a precise written set of descriptions about your company including the industry, the target customers, marketing and sales strategy, and market forecasts and risks
Business plan — this is a summary document of all the other documents above like your financing plan and revenue forecast that explains the high level function of your company

This may sound like a lot, but you can find templates of most, if not all, of these documents on your city’s official web service portal. You’ll have to be able to interpret line items in German, but the format is largely the same as comparable documents in your home language. If you’ve never completed these kinds of documents before, and are unsure about the exact figures for your capital requirements or revenues, just submit your best estimates.

Applying for your residence permit as a student

If you’re interested in studying at a German university, you can apply for a residence permit after you’ve successfully enrolled during your 90 days stay on your student visa. You’ll likely be offered a two-year residence permit, which you can easily extend for the full duration of your studies.

To get your residence permit in Germany as a university student, your application must include the following contents:

Valid passport
1 current biometric photo
Proof of health insurance
Proof of residence
Completed residence permit application form
Proof of secure livelihood — this can be a German bank account with at least €8,640, a notarized declaration from your parents to secure your livelihood during your studies with proof of income of the last six months, a scholarship or a commitment declaration (Verpflichtungserklärung) from some other third party
Certificate of enrollment at your university
€60 — €110 application fee, depending on the complexity of your case

The process is almost identical if you’re interested in studying at an intensive language course, which generally means you’ll attend daily lessons for a minimum of 18 hours per week. Night and weekend courses do not meet these requirements. The maximum length of a residence permit for language course students is one year.

To get your residence permit in Germany as a language course student, your application must include the following contents:

Valid passport
1 current biometric photo
Proof of health insurance
Proof of residence
Completed residence permit application form
Proof of secure livelihood — this can be a German bank account with at least €8,316, a notarized declaration from your parents to secure your livelihood during your studies with proof of income of the last six months, a scholarship or a commitment declaration (Verpflichtungserklärung) from some other third party
Certificate of enrollment at your intensive language school
€60 — €110 application fee, depending on the complexity of your case

Becoming a permanent resident

Once you’ve acquired your limited length residence permit and lived in Germany for a while, you may be interested in eventually becoming a permanent resident. In this case, you’ll be granted a Niederlassungserlaubnis, an unlimited settlement permit that has no expiry date, and allows you to work without undergoing further approval by the Federal Employment Agency. To apply to become a permanent resident in Germany, you must fulfill the following conditions:

Five uninterrupted years of residence in Germany with a residence permit
Five years of secure livelihood, including health insurance and social insurance (pension) contributions
Adequate living space for you and your family (at least 13 sqm per person)
Working knowledge of the German language
Working knowledge of the German legal and social systems
No criminal record

Gaining German citizenship by naturalization, acquiring a Blue Card and many special instances of acquiring your residence permit are outside the scope of this article, but are worth checking out if you’re not satisfied with this guide. The processes outlined above may seem daunting, but you only have to worry about the paperwork once a year, or once in a few years, and the peace of mind living for an extended time in Germany makes it worthwhile for many people.

If you found his article helpful, check out my other articles for expats here including how to write a resume in Germany and what insurance do I need in Germany.