Entry, Residence Status and Return

Ukrainians are allowed to stay in the Schengen area for 90 days without a visa. All questions and answers can be found here.

Residence Permit

You may apply for the residence permit online.

People who are not citizens of the European Union or have the Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian, or Swiss nationality, normally need a permit to stay in Germany legally for a longer period of time. This permit is called a “residence permit”. In many cases, this permit must normally be obtained in advance before entry. A residence permit that has been issued before entry by an embassy or consulate general as a sticker in the passport, is called a “visa”. The residence permits must be applied for. They are not issued without an application by the person concerned. See Section 2 for more information regarding the terms.

Because of the special situation in Ukraine, an exception to these rules has been made. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) has issued an ordinance for this purpose, temporarily exempting war refugees from Ukraine in the Federal territory from the requirement of a residence permit. It entered into force on March 9, 2022 and is retroactively applicable as of February 24, 2022.

The ordinance facilitates the entry and residence of the persons concerned and to give the refugees the possibility and the necessary time to obtain a residence permit in the Federal territory and thus to protect them from sliding into an unauthorized stay.

So for the time being, war refugees from Ukraine do not need a residence permit. However, this does not apply forever; the regulation is initially limited until August 31, 2022. Thereafter, war refugees will certainly need a residence permit. However, since the persons concerned have no influence on how long it will take the authorities to process an application, it is sufficient to submit an application within the period of time during which the applicant is legally residing in Germany without a residence permit. The application must therefore - according to the current status - be submitted to the local immigration authority by August 31, 2022 at the latest. Find out in time on the website of the city and/or the immigration authority whether you need to make an appointment for this purpose or whether you can submit the application for the residence permit online before the deadline. Once the application has been submitted, the status of “permitted residence” remains in effect until a decision is made on the application - even after August 31, 2022. A so-called fictional certificate is issued.

The rule that a visa must first be required before entering the country for long-term residence, does not apply to war refugees from Ukraine according to the aforementioned ordinance.

This means that within the period until - according to the current status - August 31, 2022, an application must be made to the competent immigration authority for the granting of a residence permit according to Section 24 of the German Residence Act.

Important: The initial registration, the assignment, registering at the registration authority, and the application for a residence permit are separate processes. Sometimes they are processed together, but this ultimately depends on the local organization. In case of doubt, please ask.

For further information on the procedure in Germany and applying for a residence permit, please read Section 5 and the related terms in Section 2.