How to get an Ausländerbehörde Appointment in Berlin
Get! That! Termin!
The year is 2019 and people are continuing to flock to Berlin. Whether you need to apply for a Freelance Visa, a Blue Card, or a permit to study, if you’re not from Germany, you’ll likely make a trip to the Ausländerbehörde. There are several ways to secure an appointment, but these days it’s increasingly difficult due to the volume of people who need an appointment.
*This is an accumulation of what I’ve read online, heard from chatting with others, and a retelling of my own experience. Everyone’s situation is different! Consult an immigration lawyer for your specific case if needed.*
Why make an appointment?
Make an appointment to save yourself the stress of sorting things out last minute. To avoid queuing for several hours before the Ausländerbehörde opens, go online to book a Termin (appointment) or call the Bürgertelefon at 115 and flex your German skills with the operator on the line. Without an appointment, you risk running out of time to get approved for a visa/residence permit.
Make an appointment online
Check to see if the service you need is available at the Ausländerbehörde via their website. Then head over to the official site for appointments. After entering your information, you’ll be directed to a calendar that displays available spots. I’ve read that you’re not supposed to book an appointment more than 8 weeks in advance of your visa expiring, but that seems like an outdated rule. Given the state of competition for appointments, I’d take any appointment you can get.
Depending on which country you’re from and which service you need, there may not be any openings for the next 3 months. For example, I completed a search at the beginning of January as an American looking for a Job Seeker Visa and the nearest appointment is a little more than 3 months out in mid-April. I’ve read that the Ausländerbehörde is particularly packed around the time the University semesters startup due to an overwhelming amount of student registrations, so avoid September/October and March/April if possible.
If you need an appointment sooner, try refreshing the page in the morning. Supposedly, there are new appointments released each day early in the morning. I’ve read the appointments are released at 10 am, I’ve read 5 am, and I tried this with little luck.
The best tip I’ve seen:
Download a browser extension for auto-refreshing the appointments page.
There are many free extensions for whatever internet browser you’re currently using. I had the refresher set to display new results every 15 seconds, and I set an alarm that would sound if there were changes. This is how I got an appointment that was 3 weeks away!
I was refreshing and refreshing and … refreshing for a few weeks when one afternoon the alarm sounded. I left the appointments page open in one tab and continued working in other tabs, and pounced on the open appointments when I could.
If you can’t score an appointment in time, check out this comprehensive guide to queuing at the Ausländerbehörde. But be warned, there are plenty of horror stories, as well.
Alternatively, you can book a train ticket to another city in Germany and visit their Ausländerbehörde, which is likely less busy than the one in Berlin.
Whatever you choose to do, if you come across useful information regarding the Ausländerbehörde, share it with others. There are several online communities that offer useful information for expats like this Facebook group, and the Berlin Reddit page.
Good luck!
