We help you prepare your Aufenthaltstitel application — in your language, before the appointment.
Start preparation →Getting a Termin at the Ausländerbehörde is hard enough. In Berlin it can take 3–6 months of waiting. And when the day finally comes, you need documents that match your situation — the relevant form for your permit type, photos that meet the requirements, proof of health insurance, proof of income, all originals and copies.
One missing document. One incomplete or mismatched form. And you may be rescheduled. Another months-long wait.
Meanwhile your current permit is expiring. The clock is running. The stress builds.
We built GermanyFlow so that by the time you walk through that door, you're prepared — not hoping the officer will overlook something.
A completed application form for your specific permit type, with your real data — a draft prepared for use with the official blank form.
Not a checklist. Not a blank form. A filled preparation example for review before your appointment.
Official permit application forms vary by city. The Berlin Ausländerbehörde provides them free on their website. You can download the form for your permit type directly.
Download official form (PDF)GermanyFlow is not a government service and is not affiliated with the Ausländerbehörde or any German authority. We help you prepare your application. You submit it yourself at your Ausländerbehörde appointment.
A residence title is the permission that lets a non-EU citizen enter and stay in Germany (§ 4 (1) AufenthG). Everything else — work, family reunification, a settlement permit later — is attached to which title you hold and to keeping it valid. This guide lists the types the law knows, what a settlement permit requires, what the authority charges, and the single rule that protects you most: apply before your current title expires. Every rule below is from the Aufenthaltsgesetz (AufenthG) or the Aufenthaltsverordnung (AufenthV), linked at the end.
The law grants residence titles as a visa, a residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis), an EU Blue Card, an ICT card, a mobile ICT card, a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or an EU long-term residence permit (§ 4 (1) AufenthG). The rules written for the residence permit also apply to the Blue Card and the two ICT cards unless a law says otherwise. A residence permit is always temporary and tied to a purpose — work, study, family — while a settlement permit is open-ended. Citizens of the EU and the EEA do not need a title; nor do people whose right of residence follows from EU law or, in the cases it covers, from the association agreement between the EEC and Turkey.
If you apply for an extension, or for a different title, before your current one runs out, the title you hold counts as continuing to exist until the authority decides (§ 81 (4) AufenthG). You do not fall out of status while the office takes its time. You are also given a certificate showing what your application triggered — the Fiktionsbescheinigung (§ 81 (5) AufenthG). Apply late and the protection is no longer automatic: the authority may order the continuing effect to avoid undue hardship, but it does not have to. That is the difference between a delay and a problem, and it is entirely in your hands.
The fees are set nationally. Issuing a residence permit, an EU Blue Card or an ICT card costs 100 euros; extending one costs 96 euros for up to three more months and 93 euros beyond that; changing the purpose of stay, including the extension that goes with it, costs 98 euros. A mobile ICT card costs 80 euros to issue and 70 to extend (§ 45 AufenthV). A settlement permit costs 113 euros in most cases, 147 euros for the highly qualified and 124 euros for self-employment (§ 44 AufenthV). These are the figures in the regulation as it stands in 2026; reduced rates and exemptions exist in the same regulation for specific groups.
A refusal comes as a written decision, and it names the remedy and the deadline that apply to it — read that part first and follow it, because the time limits in this area are short. While your application is pending and you applied in time, your previous title still counts as existing (§ 81 (4) AufenthG), so a long silence is not by itself a change to your status. This page is general information rather than legal advice; a refusal, or a case where your stay has actually become unlawful, belongs with a specialist lawyer or a migration counselling service.
If you applied before it expired, the old title counts as continuing until the decision (§ 81 (4) AufenthG), and you receive a Fiktionsbescheinigung showing that.
What matters is that the application reaches the authority before the title expires; the appointment is the authority's step, not yours. If you were late anyway, the office may order the continuing effect to avoid undue hardship — it is not automatic (§ 81 (4) AufenthG).
100 euros to issue, 96 euros to extend by up to three months and 93 euros for longer, 98 euros for a change of purpose (§ 45 AufenthV, 2026).
113 euros in most cases, 147 for the highly qualified, 124 for self-employment (§ 44 AufenthV, 2026).
After five years holding a residence permit, if the other conditions in § 9 (2) AufenthG are met — among them a secured livelihood, 60 months of pension contributions, German, basic knowledge of the legal and social order, and sufficient living space.
No. The requirement in § 4 (1) AufenthG applies to people whose right of residence does not follow from EU law; it also leaves room for rights under the EEC–Turkey association agreement.
GermanyFlow is built and maintained by an independent developer with first-hand experience navigating German bureaucracy — Anmeldung, residence permits, Kindergeld, and more. Content is checked against official sources and updated when the rules change; see our Editorial Policy for details. Spotted something outdated? Let us know.