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JoeH

Extending my residence to seek work

I'm reaching out to seek advice regarding my residence in Hamburg. 

 

I have been living and working in Hamburg since October 18th 2022, originally here on a residence permit for employment (Berufserfahrene,19c). After having my previous bachelor degree finally recognised in Germany this was amended to a blue card (18g) on 2nd December 2024. In may of this year I was unfortunately made redundant, with my last working day the 31st of August, 2025. 

 

I have notified the Hamburg Welcome Centre of my redundancy and have been searching for a new role since. I am aware that I have 3 months to look for a new role, which takes me to the 30th November, 2025. 

(I have also passed my German B2 Prüfung with Goethe Institut at the beginning of this year, and from July to September of this year I undertook a Weiterbildung in Marketing to increase my job prospects and confidence with terminology relevant to my field in german.) 

As time runs out, I'm looking for advice on my options to extend this 3 month period, either to find another role in line with the blue card criteria or a 'normal' work visa (Zum Arbeiten für Fachkräfte,18a/b) if I can't secure a job that meets the salary threshold for a Blue Card. So far signs seem to point towards applying for a Chancekarte, which would allow to me stay beyond the end of November and continue to look for a new job.

Any advice on case would be so very welcome, I would really like to stay here and apply for a Niederlassungserlaubnis in the future. (that was my plan for next year once I had completed 21 months on the Blue Card.)

 

1 Comments

Reply (1)

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My_Community_Managerin
Updated:

Dear @JoeH thank you for joining the community & your patience! 

First of all, congratulations on your degree recognition! This was a great step! Nevertheless, I am sorry to hear about your termination and the challenges of finding a new job.

As I can follow from your new post, you already considering applying for a Chancenkarte, which would definitely give you more time to find a job. You can read more about Chancenkarte von Handbook Germany. 
Maybe you like to consider to find any kind of employment which is considered a skilled work (job requirements needs to be at least a vocational training or a university degree). This means your new job does not has to be connected to your university degree. On Handbook Germany you can learn more about skilled worker

I hope you will find something suitable soon or receive your Chancenkarte. Please let me know if you have further questions. 

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