Changing to Blue Card Procedure
Hello,
first of all thank you for your support via this platform.
I came to Germany on language course visa and I'll be finishing C1 on February. I have visa until April. I signed a full-time permanent job contract this week that made me eligible for Blue Card (IT area with +55k income). I have two main concerns/questions that I want to consult.
1- My company will send my Arbeitsvertrag to Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Also I send them my diploma with Anabin Anerkenntnis. In order to change my visa into blue card, what else should I do? I live in Dortmund and there is no direct Termin application for Auslanderbehörde.
2- Although I tried to contact them via email and personally visited, the guy there said I can only write them an email, which takes 3-5 weeks just to get a respond. I'm afraid the visa will not catch the deadline of my first work day, 3rd of March. As far as I know, my current visa (§16f) allow part-time work but it's vague about 20h/week or 120 full days/year. I know uni students are allowed to work full-time on their academic breaks. I won't have the intensive language course on March. So my question is, can I start to work full-time on March with my current visa, until my transition to Blue Card?
I live and was registered to the same city I will work full-time. I have tax number in Germany. If you could guide me through this I'd appreciate it a lot.
Thank you all!
Welcome to our forum, @rd_ck
Congratulations on completing your German course soon and on your new employment contract! That's great news! I will answer you according to your numbers:
1 It's very good that your employer has already send in your documents to the Federal Employment Agency. The foreigners department can or will do the same. It is important that you apply your change to the blue card at the foreigners department.
Actually, I have tried to find out more on the website of the foreigners department in Dortmund. Unfortunately, there is very little information there about the process, etc. There is also no checklist of the required documents available online. Nevertheless, you can already prepare the required documents. These are usually the following:
You can also get more information about the blue card and the application process on Handbook Germany.
2 Did you write an e-mail directly to your case worker or did you use the contact form to request an appointment? Unfortunately, it is often the case that the authorities can't keep up due to the large number of applications. I'm sorry and I understand that this is very frustrating. It is important to note that unfortunately you cannot start full-time without the approval of the foreigners department, even if your contract would start. With a residence permit according to §16f you are allowed to work 20 hours/week. Unfortunately, the 120 days only apply to students (§16b). If I understand you correctly and your residence permit according to §16f implies, that you have completed a language course, which is why you are actually only allowed to work 20 hours/week. Perhaps you can contact your future employer again and negotiate a temporary amendment contract that only includes 20 hours in order to be able so start at your planned date. As soon as you have your appointment with the foreigners department and receive approval, you can then switch to full-time work.
I am sorry that I have not better news for you. If you have further questions or I can support you, please let me know.