Lemon25

Brexit Permit Renewal and studying in Germany

Hello, I arrived in Germany before Brexit to originally work freelance as a teacher. I then decided to study for a PhD which is not yet completed and I am between jobs. I decided to take a student job to concentrate on studying more which expires in January. However, my 5 year Brexit permit is up for renewal, and the next renewal should be for 10 years as I have been living in Germany since 2017. However, I am scared that my application for renewal will be rejected because I may have no job and as I have student status I am not elligible for job seekers. I am close to the end of my studies so I doubt that they will want me to swap to a student visa. I hope you can offer me advice, as to whether I will still be able to get the Brexit Bermit renewal as I have been living here for so long. For extra information, I am partly self taught in German from work so do not have an offical B1 certificate in German. I hope you can offer me some advice.

2 Comments

Reply (2)

Ida_volunteer

Hello @Lemon25

I found this document about your case: https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/faqs/EN/topics/constitution/brexit/faqs-brexit.html

Here under 'When do I lose my right of residence?' it says 'Loss of your right of residence is also possible if you no longer fulfil the requirements for it: for example if you do not yet have a right of permanent residence, if you lose your job, if you have not found a new job within six months, if there is no reasonable prospect that you will find a job in Germany and if you do not have sufficient resources to support yourself.'

If you swap to a student visa, you can show a blocked account (Sperrkonto) or Scholarships, or a formal sponsorship (Verpflichtungserklärung) as your way of supporting yourself and get it renewed without a job.

My_Community_Managerin

Dear @Ida_volunteer thank you very much for your research!

Thank you for sharing your situation, @Lemon25 .

As far as I could read on that website, that people who were living in Germany before 31.12.2020 for at least 5 years can benefit from that Withdrawal Agreement. Some can also be decided positively if they were residing in Germany rightfully for less than 5 years. Additionally, I happen to read the following:

As a UK national, do I have to fulfil any other conditions in order to have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement?

Other conditions must be fulfilled in order to be able to invoke rights in Germany under the Withdrawal Agreement:

You are required to be living in Germany on 31 December 2020 and also to continue to live in Germany. What this means in detail is explained below. Find more information on harmless absences here
You must also have had the right of free movement on 31 December 2020.

You had the right of free movement if, on that date, you were

in an employment relationship in Germany,
seeking work in Germany – although a period of seeking work longer than six months only leads to an entitlement to freedom of movement if there was a reasonable prospect that you would find a job,
self-employed in Germany (in a trade or freelance profession),
not pursuing an economic activity in Germany – for example you are a pensioner or student – and had sufficient resources to support yourself, including sickness insurance cover.

Lastly, I would like to add, in case the foreigners department will reject your application, that you might want to check out if you can fulfill the requirements for an opportunity card. I linked you the website for more information about it and the requirements.

You might also want to consider get in touch with a migration counseling center. I can help you find one in your area, if you tell me your zip code or you can look at the website of BAMF.

I hope there will be a stressless way to extend your residence permit easily. Please let us know if you have further questions.

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