Citizens from EU member states, Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland usually do not require an entry visa.
This also applies to the citizens of Australia, Brazil, El Salvador, Great
Britain, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea,
and the USA. Citizens of all other non-EU member states need to apply for a
visa to enter Germany. In case one of the states mentioned above applies to
you, please nevertheless consider entering Germany with a visa for purposes
such as starting gainful employment directly after your arrival. You can find
more information on our website: Visa. For a detailed overview of each country, please
visit the homepage of the Federal Foreign Office.
If you would like to apply for a visa for Germany,
please refer to the German diplomatic mission (embassy/consulate) in your home
country. You will either receive an initial entry visa, which you will be able
to extend after your arrival in Germany, or you will receive a one-year visa up
front. You can find more information and a checklist of the required documents
on our website: Visa
You can find a checklist of the documents that you
need in order to apply for a visa on our website: Visa.
There are many different types of visa and residence
permits that an international researcher in Germany could apply for. You can
take a look at our list of the different types of visa to find the one that
suits your needs: Types of Visa.
If you will be staying in Germany for more than three
months and your place of residence is located within the city of Frankfurt, you
need to register as a resident of Frankfurt with the Citizens' Office. You can do this at one of the several offices (Bürgeramt) all
over town. In case you live in another town that is not Frankfurt, you need to
register with the respective Citizens' Office. You will need to book an
appointment to register; required are your passport and a document from your
landlord called “Wohnungsgeberbestätigung" which proves when and where you
moved in.
You usually travel to Germany with a visa that is
valid for 3 months / 90 days. Therefore, if you are planning to stay longer
than this period of time, you should extend your visa / apply for a residence
permit as soon as possible after your arrival in Germany. If you arrived
without a visa as a national of the eligible states listed above, you are also
only allowed to stay for 3 months unless you apply for a residence permit. You
can find all of the important information about this on our website: Extending a visa.
In order to extend your visa / apply for a residence
permit, you will need to apply at the Foreigners Office responsible for the
city in which you are registered. The Foreigners Office (Ausländerbehörde)
for the city of Frankfurt is located at Rebstöcker Straße 4; however, you will need a scheduled appointment to
visit. If you would like to start your application, please contact the Goethe
Welcome Centre well in advance before the expiry of your visa. We will be happy
to guide you through the process, assist with required documents, and make an
appointment on your behalf.
As an indication, you can find a list of documents you
will most likely need to apply for a residence permit on our website: Extending a visa. Please mind, however, that different and/or
additional documents may be required depending on your individual application.
All foreign language documents or certificates require a German translation by
a certified, sworn translator.
For adults, the fee currently amounts to a minimum of
€113 per person depending on the kind of application. For children, it is €56,50.
The fee is to be paid during your appointment at the Foreigners Office;
accepted are cash and debit cards but no credit cards.
The electronic residence permit is issued in card format. It replaces the former sticky label on your passport. You can find everything you need to know about the electronic residence permit in this guide.
Since it can take about 4-8 weeks to process your application at the Foreigners Office, we recommend that you apply to extend your current visa or residence permit 8-10 weeks before it is due to expire. Processing times are heavily influenced by various factors including, but not limited to, the time of the year (i.e. around Christmas) and the urgency depending on your visa's/permit's expiry date..
After your appointment, your electronic residence
permit will be ordered by the Foreigners Office. In a first step, you will
receive a letter from Berlin with your PIN and PUK code to enable the permit's
online functions. The electronic residence permit is produced in Berlin and,
once ready, will be sent to the Foreigners Office Frankfurt where it will be double-checked
and send to your home in a second letter. Some other Foreigners Offices outside
of Frankfurt do not offer this service and you will need to pick up your card
instead.
A temporary residence permit is a substitute document which
you receive if your visa or residence permit is due to expire before the new
electronic residence permit has been issued. It fictionally extends all
specifications of your visa / residence permit. You can find more information
on our website: Temporary Residence Permit.
If possible, you should avoid travelling outside the
EU with a temporary residence permit. Indeed, the type of temporary residence
permit that you have will determine whether travel outside of Germany is at all
possible. You can find more detailed information on our website: Temporary Residence Permit.
If you wish to leave Frankfurt permanently and will no
longer be residing here, you need to de-register with the Citizens' Office (Bürgeramt) where you initially registered as a
resident of Frankfurt. This process of de-registration is called “Abmeldung".
You can de-register 14 days before your departure at the earliest. To
de-register, simply fill out the form entitled “Abmeldung bei der Stadt
Frankfurt" and hand it in / send it in electronically along with a copy of
your passport at the Citizens' Office. Deregistration is also
possible once you have left Germany. You may find more information about the procedure
and required formalities on our website: Departure.
If your spouse, and also maybe your children, would
like to follow you to Germany, the first thing you need to do is file an
application for each family member with the German diplomatic mission
(embassy/consulate) in your home country. You can find more information about
the required documents and the procedure on our website: Subsequent Arrival of
Family Members.
If you would like to invite visitors from abroad who
require a visa for Germany, you need to submit an official invitation via the
Foreigners Office. You can find all preconditions and the necessary forms on
our website: Inviting Visitors.
Global Office
Goethe Welcome Centre
Westend Campus
Bauleitgebäude
60629 Frankfurt am Main
Tel. +49-69-798-17193
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Riedberg Campus
Biozentrum, Gebäude N100, Magistrale, EG, Raum 010
Max-von-Laue-Straße 9
60438 Frankfurt am Main
Tel. +49-69-798-29863
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Email: welcome(at)uni-frankfurt.de
For doctoral candidates:
welcome_PhD(at)uni-frankfurt.de