Can you go home for the holidays if you're waiting for a new German residence permit?

The winter holiday period is a popular time for many foreign nationals to visit friends and family in their home countries.

For those who celebrate, Christmas traditions with the family compel many to try and make the journey home. 

Even for those who don’t celebrate Christmas, the winter holiday season offers a good opportunity to visit home when work at most companies comes to a stop for a week or two.

But if you're among those currently waiting on a residence permit, you may have been told not to leave Germany until your application has been sorted.

So, can you go home for the holidays while waiting on a new residence permit?

Are you really banned from travelling?

Some people talk about being stuck in Germany and unable to leave after their residence permits expire.

In reality you can, of course, leave Germany at any time. But if you try to return, and the border authority catches you with an expired stay permit, then you might face some difficulties. In the worst case, you could be prevented from re-entering the country until you’ve sorted your residence permit. 

READ ALSO: 'Stuck in Germany' - How delays to get a residence permit impact foreigners' lives

To avoid any unnecessary complications, many people in this position decide not to risk it and just stay within Germany’s borders until they’ve renewed their documents.

However, there are ways to gain official approval to travel while waiting for a response on your residence permit application.

Temporary stay permits & ‘emergency’ travel

After the immigration authority has reviewed your application for a residence permit, if they are not able to process your application by the time your visa expires, they will likely issue a Fiktionsbescheinigung (temporary stay permit).

These temporary permits come in various forms – some will allow you to travel and some do not. Check your Fiktionsbescheinigung carefully, as it should say whether or not travel outside of Germany is allowed explicitly on the certificate.

If your certificate does not allow travel, you still may be able to gain permission, but you’ll need to petition your immigration authority for an ‘emergency travel permit’. This would be granted in the form of another Fiktionsbescheinigung, but one that allows you to re-enter Germany.

If you already know you plan to travel in the future when you submit your residence permit, make a note of that in your application, because the immigration office may then issue a travel certificate from the beginning.

If you’re waiting on a previously submitted application, and now you want to travel, you can file an emergency petition, telling the authority you need to travel on X date. 

According to the Berlin immigration office (LEA) website, a travel emergency is defined as “an urgent need to travel within the next four weeks”.

You can prove this by showing a previously purchased transportation ticket.

READ ALSO:

• When do foreigners in Germany qualify for an expedited residence permit for travel?
• EXPLAINED - How to apply for a residency permit online in Berlin

Keep in mind that it will take some time, probably at least a couple weeks, to process your request. But you may be able to speed up the process if you visit the immigration office or speak to an officer directly on the phone or by email.

Some passport holders can freely enter Germany

If your home country passport allows you to enter Germany without a visa, then obtaining an official certificate for re-entry may not be strictly necessary.

If you are a citizen of another EU country, for example, you can come and go freely. 

Or if you are a citizen of the US, Canada, Australia, or another country that has a visa-free agreement with Germany, you can also freely enter the country for 90 days.

In this case, you shouldn’t have a problem re-entering the country. However be prepared that a border guard may express some initial confusion if they see that your residence permit has expired.

On Reddit and other foreign resident forums, there are varying accounts of people who did leave and return on an expired residence permit. Many of whom say that after they explained the situation, they were let through – it seems even the border guards in Germany are aware of the backlogs at the immigration offices.

But in these cases, a lot depends on your specific case and the officer you happen to be dealing with.

To avoid any possible misfortune, the best advice is to secure official travel permission.

After all, its nice to be home for Christmas, but it's also important to be able to return to your place of work and residence after the holiday.