I know there are many intimidating stories out there about visits to Ausländerbehörde (foreign office). On Google review, Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde has a rating of 1.7, which for sure says something. As a non-EU citizen who lives in Germany for long time myself, I inevitably paid many visits to Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde. Every time I came back from the visit there, I was literally exhausted emotionally and physically. You can also find a lot of Google reviews that mirror my feelings.
To help you to possibly avoid the bad experience that I had, I summarized some of my tips:
Some tips for dealing with Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde:
Ask for an appointment as early as possible
We probably all know if we write an email to make an appointment today, the appointment is very likely to be some point late in the future. I, as an example, got an appointment that is 9 months later. But on top of that, it can take quite a while until someone sees and replies to your email. Theoretically, you can also call them to make an appointment and then they will send you a list of documents required for your appointment and your appointment letter by post. However, the answer rate of phone calls is minimal. I have tried to call many times before and it often took me many attempts after many days to reach anyone.
Queuing there is a nightmare but also art
Having an appointment is the game changer. If you don‘t have an appointment, it means you have to queue. Queuing can take hours! My first advice would be to take a portable chair with you if you don‘t want to stand for hours. If you queue in the winter, remember to also bring some blankets or dress extra warmly. The first time I went to queue, I was inexperienced and arrived at around 6:45 am (The Ausländerbehörde opened at 7:30am that day). By the time I arrived, there was already a queue of 100+ people. I waited and waited for three hours, and by the time I finally got inside to talk to the receptionist, I was only told that all waiting numbers were out and I had to come again another time. Another time I arrived around 5 am. I was proud that I managed to get up so early despite having to go to work later. And guess what? By the time it was my turn to talk to the receptionist, they told me that they ran out of numbers again! The biggest lesson here is to be there best 3 hours or more ahead of the opening hours. I also heard that some week days are busier than other days. And around Christmas is less busy in comparison to just before the start of the university semester in Frankfurt.
Be aware of the opening hours of Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde
Be aware of the opening hours of Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde (yeah unfortunately they are only open around 50% of the working days. Probably that explains the long queue):
| Day | Opening Hours |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Closed |
| Monday | 8am-1pm |
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | 7:30am-3pm |
| Thursday | 1pm-6pm |
| Friday | 7:30am-12pm |
| Saturday | Closed |
Ausländerbehörde in smaller cities near Frankfurt can be way better
Before I moved to Frankfurt, I was living in Offenbach and got my first visa extension with Offenbach Ausländerbehörde. I have to say in Offenbach, you get an appointment quite fast and have comparably way shorter waiting time and very nice service (at least to me). You have to go to the Ausländerbehörde in the same city where you are registered. If you have your registration in a smaller city near Frankfurt like Offenbach, Aschaffenburg etc. the whole process would be way easier. However, if you move between cities, the transfer of documents to your new Ausländerbehörde can take a month or longer!
If you don’t speak German, ask someone who does to accompany you
Yes, the people working at Ausländerbehörde do speak English more or less. But unfortunately, it is still the case that with German the process would be way smoother. It sometimes happens that the personnel there become unhappy and rude to you if you don‘t speak German with them. So far, I had only requested student visa and working visa (extension). The people that handle student visa and working visa are different and sit in different buildings. As a rule of thumb, people handling working visa are friendlier.
Definetly get all your documents ready at one go
Lacking some material not only delays the processing, it also means it is possible you have to go there again. I sometimes compare my document list with my friends‘ who apply to the same visa and see if there is anything missing in mine. After all, more is better than less.
If you need, there are also people offering settlement service
If you want to save all the hassles, you can go for a relocation service which helps to make an appointment, compile your documents, and accompany you to the appointment. I have also seen queuing service. Basically someone offers to stand in the queue and saves a good spot for you. You just come when it opens and join the guy in the queue.
Having a passport sticker is faster than receiving a card
You can choose to either get a visa sticker sticking to your passport or have a residence card. The difference is you get a visa sticker on the spot and you have to wait for a couple of weeks to receive the card by post. While getting a sticker is fast, it has also some drawback: you have to carry around your passport the whole time and someone may not recognise the sticker. I was once taking Eurostar from London back to Frankfurt. When I was at the French border check, a personnel asked me to show my residence card. I showed him the visa page on my passport but he insisted that I must have a German residence card otherwise he would not allow me to pass the border control. In the end his colleague told him the visa sticker also exists for German residency and allowed me in finally.
In the end, it is very luck dependent
This year is a very unfortunate year. Last December, I was still very looking forward to a brand new year 2020. I know I will finally get my Niederlassungserlaubnis. I had an appointment at the end of March. And guess what? Just around one week before my appointment, Ausländerbehörde was CLOSED because of Covid, even though at that time, most of the companies haven‘t asked their employees to work from home. And it was not clear at that time when they would re-open again. I called them, emailed them, in the end, they told me they would only work on urgent cases and now I have an appointment only next year. I have also heard cases that others don‘t wait in the queue as long as I had to. So what kind of experience you will have does depend somewhat on luck. But you can always prepare yourself a bit better and do your side of the job fully!
What kind of experience do you have with Frankfurt Ausländerbehörde? Would you also like to share yours?
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