Is it possible to obtain a residence permit if the employment activity you intend to pursue does not require qualified professional training?
If the employment activity you wish to carry out does not require qualified professional training, a residence permit for the purpose of performing this activity may only be issued if this is provided for by an intergovernmental agreement (for example, seasonal or contract workers) or by national legislative regulations.
For what period is a residence permit issued for the purpose of carrying out gainful employment?
A residence permit is issued only for a limited period. The duration of the period is determined by the type of activity in question and/or the legally permitted maximum period of stay and is indicated in the residence permit.
Are there special rules for highly qualified persons?
Highly qualified foreigners may obtain a residence permit under the aforementioned conditions. In certain cases, however, a permanent residence permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) may be issued from the very beginning of the stay. This is possible, for example, if you are:
a) a scientist with special professional knowledge;
b) a senior teacher or researcher;
c) a specialist and executive with special professional experience and a salary at least twice the upper limit for calculating contributions to compulsory health insurance.
In addition, the following conditions must be met:
a) The Federal Employment Office must give its consent to the issuance of a permanent residence permit, unless otherwise provided by national legislative regulations or an intergovernmental agreement.
b) There must be grounds for assuming that integration and means of subsistence in the Federal Republic of Germany will be ensured without state assistance.
c) The consent of the federal state administration must be obtained if the state government has determined that the issuance of a permanent residence permit is subject to administrative approval.
There is no legal entitlement to a permanent residence permit in this case; the decision is made at the discretion of the administrative authorities.
In which cases can a residence permit be obtained for the purpose of self-employment?
If the purpose of your stay in Germany is self-employment, you may obtain a residence permit under the following conditions:
a) there must be overriding economic interests or a special regional need;
b) the activity must be expected to have a positive effect on the economy;
c) the financing for the implementation of this activity must be secured by equity capital or by a commitment to grant a loan.
The conditions are generally considered to be met if you invest at least one million euros and create ten jobs. In other cases, a permit may be issued on the basis of a positive assessment of the feasibility of the business idea underlying the planned activity, your entrepreneurial experience, the amount of capital invested, the impact on employment and the situation in the vocational training system, as well as your contribution to technical progress and scientific research.
Expert organizations operating in the place of the planned activity, the responsible administrative authorities for industrial supervision, public-law representations of professional unions, as well as the authorities responsible for professional certification must participate in the assessment. Persons over 45 years of age must also, as an additional condition for a residence permit, have appropriate old-age provision.
Provided that your business idea is successfully implemented and your livelihood is secured, you - contrary to the general provision on permanent residence - will receive a permanent residence permit upon application after three (rather than five) years.
On the basis of friendship treaties, trade agreements and agreements on the granting of citizenship by place of residence with most-favored-nation or favorable treatment clauses, you - contrary to the aforementioned conditions - may be issued a residence permit for self-employment if you are a citizen of one of the following states: the Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Japan, Iran, the United States, the Philippines. Citizens of Bulgaria and Romania may obtain a residence permit for self-employment, as well as for the establishment and management of enterprises, on the basis of bilateral agreements concluded between their countries and the EU. The residence permit, however, does not provide access to the labor market.
7. Stay on the basis of international legal provisions, for humanitarian or political reasons.
What residence status can be obtained as a recognized refugee?
If your right to political asylum is recognized after January 1, 2005, then, unlike previously applicable law, you will not receive a document permitting indefinite stay, but only a (time-limited) residence permit.
A residence permit will also be issued to you if, after 1 January 2005, you have been recognized as a refugee on the grounds that the conditions under §60, paragraph 1, sentence 1 of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (Aufenthaltsgesetz) are fulfilled with respect to you (“In implementation of the Agreement of 28 July 1951 on the legal status of political refugees, a foreigner cannot be deported to a country in which his life or his freedom is under threat on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or because of his political convictions”).
In both cases, the residence permit gives you the right to work. After three years of holding the residence permit, you will be issued a permanent residence permit if the Federal Office for Refugees and Migration (formerly: Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees) informs the visa and registration department for foreign nationals (Auslanderbehorde) that the recognition of your right to political asylum or your recognition as a convention refugee cannot be annulled or revoked.
What residence status can be obtained as a convention refugee?
At present, it can be assumed that newly admitted contingent refugees will be issued a permanent residence permit. As before, a residence permit for contingent refugees may be issued with a restriction on place of residence.
Are there other possibilities to obtain a residence permit on humanitarian grounds?
A foreigner may be issued a residence permit for admission to the country from another country on the basis of international legal norms or for urgent humanitarian reasons.
The highest administrative authority of the federal state, in agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, may, on the basis of international legal norms, for humanitarian reasons or for the protection of the political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany, order the issuance of a residence permit to foreign nationals of certain states or to certain groups of foreigners (the so-called “settlement of unfinished matters”).
At the request of the commission for the consideration of exceptional cases, the highest administrative authority of the federal state (in Berlin – the Senate Department for Internal Affairs) may order the visa and registration department for foreign nationals to issue or extend a residence permit to a foreigner who is obliged to leave the country in connection with an exceptional case, even if he does not meet the conditions prescribed by law for the issuance or extension of a residence permit. The condition for this, however, is the existence of urgent humanitarian and personal reasons justifying the foreigner's continued stay in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a rule, the issuance of a residence permit is excluded if the foreigner has committed serious criminal offenses.
A residence permit will also be issued if you have been granted temporary protection on the basis of a decision of the EU Council.
A residence permit must be issued to you if, in your case, there are legal prohibitions on deportation from the country due to a threat to life or health.
You may also be issued a temporary residence permit for the period during which urgent humanitarian or personal reasons or important public interests of the country require your continued stay in the country, for example, if you are facing surgery that cannot be performed in your home country, or if you have to care for a seriously ill family member. Important public interests of the country exist, for example, if you are required to appear as a witness in a court hearing.
A residence permit is initially issued for a period of no more than six months, except if you have already been residing in Germany legally for at least 18 months. In that case, you may be issued a residence permit for a period of up to three years. The arrival of family members for reunification is not possible in this case.
A residence permit may also be issued if you are under a final obligation to leave the country, but departure is impossible because there are obstacles to your deportation from the country. The following conditions must be fulfilled for this:
a) you are under a final obligation to leave the country;
b) your departure is impossible for legal or factual reasons;
c) the obstacle to departure will not be removed in the foreseeable future;
d) the obstacle to departure did not arise through your own fault.
A legal reason exists, for example, if the competent court ruled to postpone your deportation, or if the public prosecutor's office refused to give its necessary consent to your deportation from the country. Your departure is factually impossible, for example, if no country has declared its readiness to accept you, or if you are seriously ill and unable to travel.
To be continued.
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