Hi All,

My company had applied for a GC for a one year duration and accordingly my visa will expire in 3 months time. My employer now wants to extend the contract and I wanted to find out what needs to be done to get the GC extended? Also any information about the time taken, costs involved or any experiences would be appreciated.

Regards,
Ashwini

Hi Ashwini,

The main thing you need is another contract with your employer. For me it was like this: You have to go to the Ausl.Behörde with this work permit (which is valid for another year or maybe unlimited) and a current certificate from the Meldamt that you still live in your given address. The time taken for me was 1 hour. The amount to be paid was around 25 Euro. You will get a visa according to how long your work-contract is valid, subject to a max of 5 years from the date of entry into Germany.

-Fred

I got a 5 year visa with an one-year-contract.. some ABs give you directly 5 year visa regardless of the lenght of your contract..
Dont ask me why.. :-) that is how it works in Germany.. AB officers are the kings of the AB Jungle.. :-)
but the main thing is ofcourse not be unemployed.. when you are unemployed and go to AA, they will send you to AB in order to have them shorten your 5 years to the amount of time that you are entitled to receive unemployment benefit.. this practice also may differ from AA to AA.. :-) well.. life itself is also full of suprises.. ain't it ? :-)

Have fun

Lacrima

@lacrima:

My AA is in Wiesbaden and AB in Bad Schwalbach, both in Hessen. Where are yours?

-Fred

Hi Fred,
I am talking about Stuttgart.. :-) but it doesnt make a difference 'cause there may be different practices even in different rooms of the AB, AA in the same building.. it is like a lottery to find out how your case is going to be handled.. :-) but defending yourself in fluent german with reasonable examples and in a polite manner sometimes also might help.. :-)

Have fun

Lacrima

"defending yourself in fluent german with reasonable examples and in a polite manner sometimes also might help", that doesn't may help, it DEFINITELY helps, believe me.

D.