Foreign residents in Germany who have been left waiting for months for a new residence permit told us about the issues they’ve faced with travel, work, banks and housing.
In Germany, if the immigration authorities can’t process your application for a new or renewed residence permit in time, there’s a good chance you’ll end up holding a Fiktionsbescheinigung.
These “fictional certificates” are intended to serve as a temporary document which proves that a foreign national has the right to remain in Germany until a decision on their pending application for residence is made.
But, as The Local has reported, it appears that more and more foreigners in Germany are being made to live on Fiktions for months or years at a time while overburdened immigration authorities fail to move forward on their applications for residence.
We asked our readers with direct experience of the situation how being issued with a Fiktionsbescheinigung has affected their lives.
‘Nerve-wracking’
“I’ve experienced an impact to my mental health. This is the first time in eleven years living in Germany that my status feels insecure,” said Michael, a designer from the US who lives in Berlin.
He added that he’s been working to meet new requirements given to him by the immigration office, but that in the meantime he’s been “unable to make long-term plans or enjoy life”.
Katherine, a medical student living in Mannheim, described a similar feeling. She pointed out that life on a Fiktionsbescheinigung is inherently uncertain, because the document doesn’t mean you’re entitled to a residency permit. Rather, it means your entitled to stay until that decision is made.
READ ALSO: Germany’s ‘temporary’ permits are becoming an ongoing issue for foreign residents
“It is nerve-wracking…It makes it hard to make future plans,” she told The Local.
Another respondent, who identified themself simply as an African student in Berlin, said, “It feels very uncertain, as if I’m not wanted here.”
Technical issues
Anxiety and somewhat abstract impacts, like being blocked from making future plans, are among the initial impacts of living with a temporary certificate for many. But then come the more concrete challenges: travel, work and even just having access to your money in a German bank account can all be threatened while you’re left waiting for a new residence permit.
Asim Ali from Indonesia and living in Düsseldorf cited travel difficulties, bank problems and a problem buying a car as the main issues he’s faced in his more than six months living on a Fiktion.
An Indian living in Berlin, who referred to himself as R., described the severe disruption to his own life caused by related bank issues: “My bank account was blocked the day after my Ausweis expired, despite my having submitted confirmation from the Berlin immigration office that my renewal application had been received two months before.
“The bank refused to accept the confirmation because it contained a watermark. As a result, I could not pay my rent or make any bank transfers, and had to rely on my wife to make payments on my behalf.”
READ ALSO: Expert advice for navigating life on a ‘temporary’ permit in Germany
R. noted that the blocked account forced him to submit an urgent request to Berlin’s LEA, and that he then finally received an appointment set for three months later.
On the opposite side of Germany, an American living in Aalen said they were being “constantly pestered” by their employer about why they haven’t received a new permit yet.
“I can’t buy a house, it’s difficult for me to get Elterngeld, everything in my life feels on hold,” they said, adding that after a year of waiting they had decided to downgrade their application for a Blue Card to one for a family reunification permit. This was because the immigration office said it would take even longer if they continued trying to renew the Blue Card.
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This less-than-secure residency status affects people differently, depending on how long they’ve been living in Germany.
Long-term residents may face challenges with benefits that they were already receiving, for example, whereas newcomers can face all kinds of obstacles to setting up their lives here.
Readers M. and J., American military retirees in Uberlingen who say they want to live in Germany long-term, received a Fiktion six months after applying for their residence permit.
“We can’t do a number of things, like register my husband’s disability status, get a driver’s license, consider a mini job or adopt a pet,” they said, adding that they also had challenges renting an apartment and have put off visiting their kids in the United States for fear of putting their residence permit applications at risk.
“Application for a Residence Permit”. In Berlin, around 20 percent of all residence permits issued are temporary Fiktionsbescheinigung, with potentially serious consequences for recipients. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Martin Schutt
Waits of six months or more
We asked respondents who currently had a Fiktionsbescheinigung how long it had been since they’d applied for a new residence permit — the largest group, about 36 percent of respondents, had been waiting between six months and a year.
Around nine percent or respondents had been waiting less than three months and 27 percent had been waiting between three and six months.
Another 27 percent had been waiting on a residence permit application for more than a year.
Notably, those who had been waiting (and therefore holding a Fiktion) for less time were less likely to say they had experienced major issues.
“No challenges so far,” wrote Maheen, a communications manager in Berlin who’d been waiting more than three months for a residence permit.
An American tech worker in Munich said similarly, “No difficulties so far…Except that my Fiktion expires next month and the Amt has no appointments available.”
This is exactly where the trouble begins for many, when the ‘temporary’ document remains in place for longer than expected and begins to impact other areas of life.
“I won’t be able to travel or leave Germany without an active visa,” they added.
‘Slow poison’
For those who have been left with a ‘fictional certificate’ instead of a proper residence permit for years, it begins to feel like the entire German immigration system is failing.
One Canadian tech worker in Munich, who had previously come to Germany as a Masters student, explained that they have dealt with a Fiktion every year, first while extending their student visa and now while waiting for a Blue Card.
“I am becoming increasingly frustrated with having to spend hours, sometimes over several days, trying to get through by phone, only to then lose half a day of work [to visit the immigration office] to obtain yet another Fiktionsbescheinigung,” they said.
“The system is completely broken, treating high earning, high achievers very poorly,” said Sekar, an Indian woman who works as an AI strategy advisor.
She detailed a multi-year process in which her permanent residence application, originally filed in Stuttgart in 2022, has since been transferred to Berlin where she moved in 2024, and is still being processed.
“Departments keep changing, people who get assigned to the files don’t know the rules…they don’t support or even give basic foundational information correctly,” she said, adding that she’s received no response to “one-hundred emails sent” and has had her bank accounts frozen.
“None of your personal achievements or intellectual contributions actually plays a role in the Ausländerbehörde…“
For people in positions like Sekar’s, life in Germany feels enormously unfair. Foreign residents are expected to make tremendous efforts — to work, to pay taxes and to meet bureaucratic demands — but when the system itself fails to function they are met with a big shrug.
READ ALSO: ‘Tired of being an immigrant’ – Why foreigners are leaving Germany in 2026
“Germany is slow poison for high achieving expats, they drain you, juice out every penny and treat you like a burden in the end,” Sekar said.