Change from student to tourist visa - Germany

Hi,

Was hoping somebody with some good knowledge of the dreaded Auslander world knows if it is possible to switch from a student visa to a 3 month tourist visa?
I have been on a student visa for the past 2 years and was hoping to extend my stay for a bit.
Does anybody know if this is possible. And if so, what information/documentation you would need to provide.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

P.S. I have a U.S. passport.

I have heard of people who had to prove they had left the country after their Student visa had expired only to come back as a tourist. Best people to check this with would be your students union advisor as I'm sure they have had to deal with this before. Enjoy. You could also check the US consulate to be sure.

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To J.Lynn,
Yes it would be most likely possible to do what you said. The thing is that you have to leave the countries where the Schengen agreement travel agreement is in place and where you can travel without a visa. So you can't just go to Austria, for example. It all has to do with getting the passport stamped when you leave the Schengen area and when you come back to Germany. So you better look up in Google about Schengen and the countries that it includes. Now there is a small possibility that there might be some trouble when you come back. I did talk to a German attorney about this matter and he said that in his opinion this was a very small possibility and that there should be no problem but there's always a chance for difficulties with immigration control to arise. Perhaps you should pick carefully the country bordering the Schengen Treaty countries where you decide to travel to and from. The bottom line is that you have been in Germany longer than 180 days under a status other than a tourist and that's the main thing. Now after three months of your return you will have to leave unless you can get a job, etc.

Thanks for the advice so far.
So let me just confirm this.
My visa runs out on the 27th of august.
If I were to go to Turkey or Egypt say on the 22nd and then return back to Germany on the 29th, I shouldn't have a problem?
Or at least to your best knowledge.
As that's what I'm planning with the advice you have given me.

Based upon what the German attorney mentioned to me in the past, the issue of any possible problem arising in this kind of situation-and I am speculating about this-might have to do with how much scrutiny immigration control would give to somebody's passport. Clearly where one is coming from might lead to lesser or greater scrutiny of one's passport-according to what country one is travelling from-and the more scrutiny there is the more room there is for someone in immigration to ask questions. I think that one would want to come back from the country that might occasion the least amount of scrutiny but I can't really judge as to what country that might be. This is my opinion but it's probably a reasonable one.

Also, I don't really understand what you mean by this

'this was a very small possibility and that there should be no problem but there's always a chance for difficulties with immigration control to arise.'
So he thinks it's generally easy/ok to do this?

'Perhaps you should pick carefully the country bordering the Schengen Treaty countries where you decide to travel to and from.'
What exactly do you mean in regards to this. Which ones would you consider better? Or worse? And Why?

The lawyer said that there should be no problem but he always left a small possibility open. I am going to guess that he had something like this in mind: let's suppose that you are coming back from the United States in contrast to coming back from Pakistan. Most likely if you are coming back from the United States immigration officials will not spend too much time over your passport. If you are coming back from Pakistan they are going to spend a lot more time over your passport and thinking about things. Clearly in your case one doesn't want an immigration official to think of the fact that you have been in Germany for a very long time as a student and that you are now coming back as a tourist, etc. It's not that it's illegal but with immigration issues one wants to avoid any gray areas that could lead to any difficulties. That is probably what the lawyer that I referred to had in mind but it's an educated guess in my part.

I would not be so confident that the above will work. You will find that the German border/passport control people will look into your passport in great detail - I know this as my wife has a Ukranian passport, and they always look for very clear evidence that all is in order for her to come back home. And remember that if they are unhappy with the situation, you may find that you might not get back in at all.

In my opinion, there are two possibilities. Get official approval for an extension (via the university, Ausländerbohorde etc), or else return to the USA and then you can come back on a normal tourist visa.

How about Switzerland? If one drives there or takes the train, would they get tehir passports stamped?
Perhaps, flying to London?