I am a US citizen and have been on a selbstaendig visa for the past 5  years, or so I thought. First they gave me one year as a freelance  writer/translator (§ 21), then I went back in 2010 and they gave
me two years (again § 21).

Then last time I went two years ago in 2012, they told me I could work in anything, not just as a freelance writer/translator... it said, Erwerbstaetigkeit gestattet. The Sacharbeiter told me that when I came back for my extension in 2014 it would "unbefristet." So I got the impression that I should just keep doing what I was doing.

Now that I've gone to sign up for my extension Termin online, I'm seeing  that printed on my latest visa  wasn't actually § 21 for these  past two years, but rather a section 18 Abs. 4 S. 1 (I had to select it  from a list when making a Termin), which is a visa for Forschung und  Wissenschaft.


And under the Voraussetzung for the appointment they're saying:

Beschäftigung an einer öffentlichen Hochschule oder

Forschungseinrichtung

Eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis kann erteilt werden, wenn Sie als

Gastwissenschaftler(in), wissenschaftliches oder technisches Personal mit

einem Arbeitsvertrag an einer Hochschule oder öffentlichen

Forschungseinrichtung in Forschung und Lehre arbeiten wollen.


Now,I have nothing of the kind, and thought that I was working as a  selbstaendig all this time! I have no connection with any Hochschule or Forschungseinrichtung. I just have a hodgepodge of various small
contract jobs. Last time I brought them a bunch of letters and that  seemed to be enough.

Am I going to be in trouble if I show up without a solid contract from a university? I never had one before when they gave this to me. I mean, did they make a mistake here? Or is this just what  they do when they change a limited selbstaendig over to "anything you want"?