Tuesday, January 19, 2010

PR in Germany

I was at the Munich Ausländerbehörde (ABH – International office or however you want to translate it) this month for my Daueraufenthalt EG (PR for EU). I had submitted the documents before and the lady who took them had asked me to come and collect the PR in 2 weeks unless she contacts me for additional documents and so there I was. She was on vacation but there was another person who asked me to wait for a few minutes and he gave me some reading material for the waiting time! While I was already surprised by his courtesy, he adds ‘This broschure tells you all about how you can apply for citizenship’ and I was literally open-mouthed. I have never seen someone at an international office voluntarily asking some foreigner to consider the citizenship option ever! He came out in a few minutes and asked me to pay the fee and collect my PR – no interview, no questions, nothing at all!! Either I should flatter myself that my application was so impressive or this ABH is really one of a kind! Truthfully though, in all my time in Munich, I have only seen friendly people and I have absolutely had no issues with any of my permits here. Even when I was there for the Niederlassungserlaubnis (PR for Germany), the whole process was over in less than half an hour.

Although this link is outdated, I really like the gist, the list of documents needed and especially the table at the end that enumerates the differences between the Niederlassungserlaubnis and Daueraufenthalt EG. Here is more information from the ABH itself.

The only extra document I provided was the ‘Rentenversicherungsvorlauf’ – this basically lists the time periods during which I have paid to the PF (Pension Fund) and this should add up to 60 months (Even a Hiwi or RA counts towards this). Depending on if you have public or private insurance and your DOB, your contact person will vary (It took me 5 phone calls to find mine) and with your ‘Sozialversicherungsnummer’, you can get this document posted to you. The whole process takes 2-3 working days. You can also request for this online but the phone call works faster.

Please be aware that the list of documents needed, processing time etc. changes from state to state. I know of a friend whose Daueraufenthalt application was processed for 6 weeks and he was asked to submit a letter from the Finanzamt (Tax office) that all his taxes were paid.

I think, for someone working at the ABH, there is nothing more annoying than someone who just walks in with an incomplete application, no supporting documents (irrespective of the details being explained in the website) and with absolutely no ability to speak German in spite of having lived here for years! As long as one doesn’t belong to this category, there shouldn’t be much friction in the process of getting any permits.

Note: I don't think anyone would wonder but for the one exception that does - PR implies Permanent Residency :)

14 comments:

  1. Congrats.
    I suggest to keep a small test for all applicants.
    Spell these words in 1minute..

    Daueraufenthalt
    Niederlassungserlaubnis
    Ausländerbehörde
    Sozialversicherungsnummer

    enakkillai enakkillai Germany PR enakkillai..

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Bharath

    longest word in Germannu edhayum solla mudiyadhu because if one wishes oru sentence apdiye serthu word akidalam...seriously :D, adhu ennamo kuttaya kozhapi avalayum kozhapikardhu germansku romba pidikkum....

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  3. Herzlich Glückwünsch (ya ya athe athe :-) )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bharath,

    Check here for the longest word in german :-) .. My boss wrote this one to me.. :-) thalai suththi keezhe vizhunthutten.. :-)

    Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft,

    This is the longest word :-)

    SG, Whats the benefit of having Niederlassungserlaubnis. Can we get it as a ph.d. student. Visa extension panna thevai illaiyaa ?? :-)

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  5. @Bharath

    What SK says it what I exactly meant - the word means a company that is in charge for the electric installations for the Donau Steamship transport, nemba too much illa ?

    @SK
    No visa extension (since its a PR, i.e. you can stay here for as long as you want irrespective of whether you are employed or not), spouse can get a work permit and if one has a PR and has lived in Germany for 8 yrs, his/her kids automatically become german citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  6. //Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft//

    I suggest to remove the spacebar from the keyboard and add few more alphabets.. romba useful'a irukkum..

    //the word means a company that is in charge for the electric installations for the Donau Steamship transport//

    idha padichu mudikkarathukulla namakku fuse poidum polarukku..

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  7. with PR, does one gets german passport?
    if yes then, i heard that he/she must surrender indian passport. is it true?

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  8. @kamal

    PR is only for residency (a visa status in your Indian passport), you get a german passport only if you apply for citizenship and yes you have to give up your Indian citizenship since India does not support dual citizenship. However you need not surrender your passport, it will just be stamped as invalid and you can apply for an 'Overseas Indian Card' that will allow you to travel to India without a visa (enna kodumai sarvanan...namoorku namma poradhuku visava ?!)

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  9. Hey congrats sowmya. Even for kala it dint take more than 2 weeks and he did just the way you did. I think Bayern is in a way flexible.

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  10. I got a Niederlassungserlaubnis too. I only needed to provide the pension thing but I was given a short informal "fill in the blanks" kind of German test by the local German authority here.

    After that it was no problem at all.

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  11. How to apply for Daueraufenthalt EG, I just received Niederlassungserlaubnis...Any additional documents required??

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  12. @Rahul, depending on your city, please check the related website, I got mine years ago and requirements could have changed now

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  13. Thanks Sowmya..is there any problem to get our pension money back with these Niederlassungserlaubnis or Daueraufenthalt EG??

    ReplyDelete
  14. @Rahul
    Technically there is no issue. But it all depends on how the terms between the 2 countries remain. I was told that it was quite possible that in the near future Germany could stop paying out the pension money as a lumpsum and it will only be given as monthly pension after one retires. Until today, I do not know of anyone who got the pension money as a lumpsum.

    ReplyDelete

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