Ruslana

Updated:

Visa & Residence

Residnce permit in accordance with Section 24

Dear Team,

Hope you are doing well.

My colleague, a Ukrainian citizen, would like to enter Germany and receive temporary protection in accordance with Section 24 of the Residence Act, together with her husband and child (also Ukrainians). They used to have a permanent place of residence in Ukraine before Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. They fled from Ukraine to Poland on February 22, 2022 to avoid war, and since that time they can not safely return home. In spring 2023 they received temporary Poland Business Harbour visas for 1 year (still valid until spring 2024) to reside and work in Poland legally. But now they would like to move to Germany.

Please advise if they are eligible to receive temporary protection in accordance with Section 24 of the Residence Act?

9 Comments

Reply (9)

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Dear @Ruslana thank you for reaching out to us. To understand the situation of your colleague and her/his family better, may I ask if they left for Poland 2 days before the war began as tourist (you mentioned February, 22nd 2022)? What was their residence permit from that date to spring 2023? Did they already applied for a protection status somewhere in the EU, e.g. Poland? happy if you get back to me, so I can give you a more precise answer.

Ruslana

Hello, Thanks for reviewing my request. Yes, please, the details you need are as follows: My colleague and her family members left Ukraine a few days before full-scale war started as tourists, on the basis of their biometric travel passports. They didn`t apply for temporary protection (PESEL UKR) in Poland as they were not eligible, although after 90th day of staying in Poland their legal stay was automatically extended up to 18 months without the obligation to obtain any kind of permit, according to a special law for Ukrainians who can`t safely return home (https://dziennikustaw.gov.pl/D2022000058301.pdf). The family didn`t apply for Temporary Protection Status in other countries. They were continuously staying in Poland until April 2023. Only in April 2023, my colleague traveled to Ukraine for a short-term period due to personal reasons, where she applied for a Poland Business Harbour visa (for herself and her family members) in order to be able to re-enter Poland and rejoin with family in a safe place. PBH visa for all family members is still valid until May 20, 2024. Please let me know if everything is clear and if there is anything else you need to know about the family's situation. We want to know if they are eligible for temporary protection in Germany.

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Thanks for all the information, @Ruslana It seems like she and her family will need to either wait until their PBH visa in Poland expired or they can cancel it in order to be able to apply for a protection status in Germany. They should make sure that their current visa is not valid anymore, otherwise it won't be possible to apply for a protection status in Germany. Based on your provided facts, that they never applied for any protection status in any other EU country, it seems very likely that they will be eligible to receive §24. If you or your colleagues family need more information, please let me know. Wish you and them all the best!

Ruslana

Many thanks! I will update my colleague. Just for me to understand eligibility criteria in general: does the fact that a person earlier applied for protection status in any other EU country result in a refusal to provide §24 in Germany? From my understanding, if an eligible person cancels temporary protection status in a previous EU country, he/she has the right to apply again in a new EU country, including Germany.

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Happy to help, @Ruslana Regarding another application of a protection status: Surely, you have the right to cancel your protection status and apply in another EU country again. However, if a person already received a protection status in another EU country, this will be registered in the central database, EURODAC. Every new application in an EU country will be checked with that database. That's why they will notice that there already was a former protection status in another EU country. In the community we already noticed some cases that their second application was more difficult and also led to rejection. Please let me know if you have further questions.

Seoyoung_Community Management Support

Hi @Ruslana ,

I wanted to check in with you and ask how the process has been for your colleague and her family. Have they applied protection status in Germany?

We're curious to hear back from you. Let us know if you have further questions.

Best wishes

Seoyoung

Ruslana

Updated:

Hi Seoyoung,

I hope you are doing well.

Thanks for asking! The concerned colleague changed her mind and decided not to move to Germany.

However, at the beginning of 2024, there was a case of rejection of application for §24 in Ingolstadt, Germany for eligible Ukrainian citizen.

I was wondering if you have an up-to-date list of cities that still accept refugees without difficulties.

Kind regards,

Ruslana

Seoyoung_Community Management Support

Hi @Ruslana ,

thanks for your update.

To clarify: Do you mean the eligible Ukrainian citizen was rejected their stay in Ingolstadt and was distributed to another city/province in Germany?

If one is eligible for §24, it should be issued by any initial reception facility. It however isn’t guaranteed that the applicant can stay at the same place. Depending on the local capacities, one might get distributed to another facility in Germany. Here you can find more information about the rights and obligations of §24, including the regulations about the place of residency.

https://handbookgermany.de/en/ukraine-info?themes=residence#faq_2317

Here you can find more general information about §24:

https://handbookgermany.de/en/ukraine-info?themes=residence#faq_2315

Our community manager @Міла_Модераторка on Ukrainian platform shared this information regarding your question:

„No, there is no list of the federal states that are taking refugees from Ukraine, because the numbers change every hour of every day: People arrive, people move, people go back to Ukraine. This cannot remain static, this information is also internal and is kept secret. This means that you should either go to a central initial reception facility (if you’re in Berlin it’s in Tegel) or proactively search in the internet yourself if you have a specific city or federal state in mind. If the initial reception facilities there are still open, you can also go there directly and register for temporary protection.”

I hope this was helpful for you and let us know if you have more questions.

Best wishes

Seoyoung

Ruslana

Hi Seoyoung,

Thank you very much for the above information!

The concerned UA citizen`s application for paragraph 24 was rejected because `due to many travel stamps in passport, they have decided that person wasn`t permanently living in Ukraine before war started`. Luckily, Ingolstadt Foreigners Office suggested to apply for work permit instead (visa-free, directly at their office) and he soon was granted a Blue Card.

Thank you again. Your platform is a great place to ask for advice and share exoerience.

Have a good day,

Ruslana

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