Prabha

Request for Guidance on Converting Opportunity Card to Blue Card

Dear Team / Sir or Madam,

I currently hold an Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) which is valid for another six months. I am based in Berlin, Germany, and I have recently received a job contract as a Software Engineer, with employment starting on 1st December 2025. My salary meets the Blue Card eligibility requirements.

However, I am unable to submit the Blue Card application online, as the system does not allow submission when the current residence permit is valid for more than eight weeks.

Could you please advise me on how to proceed with converting my Opportunity Card to a Blue Card?
I would also appreciate it if you could let me know whether there is a way to expedite the process or book an appointment manually.

Thank you very much for your support.

Kind regards,
Prabha Kumari
Berlin

4 Comments

Reply (4)

Natalie_JMDdigital_hub

Hi @Prabha

thank you for your question!

Recently we have had a very similar question in the forum where another person also tried to switch from Opportunity Card which was still valid for more than eight weeks. You can read about it here: https://handbookgermany.de/de/forum/thread/chancenkarte-20-stunden-arbeiten-beschraenkungen

In this case they contacted the Welcome Center Berlin to ask for help. The Welcome Center advised the following:

Beim Ausfüllen der Abfrage zum Aufenthaltstitel wählen Sie statt „ich habe ein Visum“ die Option „Ich habe kein Visum, sondern einen anderen Aufenthaltstitel“. Dann können Sie weiter kommen.
Sie müssen aber dann zusammen mit Ihrem Chancenkarte-Visum eine schriftliche Erklärung mit hochladen, dass Sie ein Chancenkarte-Visum haben und dass Sie diesbezüglich unzutreffende Angabe machen musste, um mit dem Online-Antragsformular weiterkommen zu können.

In the Online Service of the Ausländerbehörde simply select "I have a Visa" instead of "I have no visa, but a residence permit". Then upload a written statement together with your Opportunity Card visa stating that you have an Opportunity Card visa and that you had to provide inaccurate information in order to proceed with the online application form.

This solution seemed to work just fine for the other person - I hope it works for you too. Good luck with your application and feel free to get back to me, should you have any more questions.

All the best,
Natalie

Prabha

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your quick response. I followed the steps you suggested, but I’m still unable to submit the form due to errors in some other fields after entering my visa details. The system prompts me to select “I have a valid visa” instead of “I don’t have a visa,” since my current visa is still valid.

Error
"You have entered a valid visa number, please correct your selection and select that you have a visa."

Those fields are mandatory, so I’m unable to skip them.

Best regards,
Prabha Kumari

Natalie_JMDdigital_hub

Updated:

Hi @Prabha,

I assume leaving the field "visa number" blank does not work either? Another idea would be to select a different visa expiry date and stating the correct date in your statement, explaining that it was not possible to proceed otherwise. No guarantee this will work though!

I am not based in Berlin and therefore not familiar with their Online Application System. You could contact the local Welcome Center. They have been helpful in the past and seem to have solutions for problems with the Online System.

Here you can find their contact details: https://www.berlin.de/willkommenszentrum/ueber-uns/mehrsprachige-beratung/

Alternatively, in case you are under 27 years old, a local Jugendmigrationsdienst might be able to help you with the application. There are several ones in Berlin. You can check this map to find the one that is closest to you and make an appointment with them in their office: https://www.jugendmigrationsdienste.de/

All the best,
Natalie

My_Community_Managerin

Thank you @Natalie_JMDdigital_hub this is very helpful!

Welcome to our platform, dear @Prabha & thank you for reaching out to us.

Additionally to Natalies recommendations, you might want to contact the responsible department directly through their contact form: https://www.berlin.de/einwanderung/en/about-us/contact/artikel.1500715.en.php

You can also upload documents and explain why you reached out to them through their contact form and not the application form.

I hope this might be helpful!

Wish you all the best & please let us know if you have further questions.

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