Changes to German Immigration Laws: January 1 2005

Hello all,

I just got a letter from my Auslanderbehorde, and as my officialese German is somewhat dodgy, have just had a trawl to find out what the new laws mean. I found this:

http://www.aila.org/fileViewer.aspx?docID=16464

6. EU Citizens
For EU citizens, it will become easier to move to Germany. The EU Treaty provides for something quite unique, namely Union citizenship. Never has there been anything comparable anywhere in the world. Every citizen of an EU member state is also a Union citizen, a status which confers certain rights in all other EU member states. For example, Union citizens have the right to passively and actively participate in elections to local and municipal councils. Thus, for example, Tony Blair could be elected mayor of Paris. Not very likely, but possible. The new Immigration Act eliminates the need for Union citizens to obtain a residence permit. In the future, a Union citizen living in Germany will simply be required to register with the local authorities, something that all Germans must do as well.

and this:

http://www.daad.de/deutschland/en/2.3.3.html

The Residence Permit for Nationals of a Member State of the EU (Aufenthaltserlaubnis-EG) will be abolished. In the future, such nationals will only be required to register with the authorities, in the same way German nationals are required to do.

So erm.. I'm from an EU member state..does this mean I don't have to renew my soon to expire Aufenthaltserlaubnis? I did the anmeldung thing when I got here, is that what they mean by registering? If anyone can confirm this or put me straight then I would be a very happy bunny. I can be incredibly dense at times. I just can't imagine that the Germans would make something so easy!

I am sure this has been discussed before, so sorry if we are going over an old subject. I really should read this board more often.

Many thanks

Looks like the Anmeldung is all you need to do.

Thats what I was thinking. Mmmm that would be nice

Its not the Germans making things easy, its the Union showing Germany who the real boss is

But... your so-called 'Union citizenship' is a 2nd-class citizenship.

I already submitted a petition to the European parliament under the competence area: 'non-discrimination on the basis of nationality'.

The basis for the petition was that, as permanent residents and tax-payers, we do not have the right to vote in national elections or plebiscites.
We contribute money to the nation, are affected by all policies and legislation from the national parliament - using our taxes - but do not have any voice in the composition of the national government and therefore cannot influence national legislation or spending as citizens of the nation (in this case, Germany) are able to.

This is discrimination on the grounds of citizenship and is against the principles in the competence area 'non-discrimination on the basis of nationality'.

When/if I hear something, I'll post it here.

From January 2005, instead of Aufenthaltserlaubnis you will need a Bescheinigung for which you only need to present your passport. It seems there is no longer the need to demonstrate you are self suporting, insured, employed or whatever else they asked for before. There's a thread on Toytown Munich about this.

Ahhh its all so clear now

Thanks v much.

Rebecca, where did you get that information about a Bescheinigung?

From the thread I read on the Toytown Munich board. I looked on the British Embassy/Consulate website but there's nothing there about it but then the whole site is a bit out of date with references to Deutschmarks.

As far as I can tell it is simply bringing the registration procedure for EU nationals in line with the general principles that EU nationals can move freely and live and work in any member state without any additional requirements. If I am able to keep my (unrestricted) Aufenthaltserlaubnis I will because I suspect it will be a while before the new Bescheinigung is familiar enough to be recognised as ID.

I don't think these changes will have a direct bearing on the issue about voting rights.

And you forgot about the time it takes German administrative departments to turn these things around.

And you forgot that you will probably need some form of identity paper or identity card with photo, or you will have to carry your passport.

Remember, the people who make these rules mostly come from countries where IDcards are a general principal.

So I won't be thowing my endless permit away.

As I mentioned in another thread a couple of months back, it has not been necessary, (but still possible), for UK citizens to have an Aufenthaltserlaubnis for at least ten years.


In the same thread I also mentioned that we were long overdue for a Boston Tea-party here!

I'll be interested to hear what progress you have - if any!

The new thing is called
"Bescheinigung über das gemeinschaftsrechtliche Aufenthaltsrecht gemäß § 5"

I heard that too, and didn't bother renewing my Aufenthaltserlaubnis, but the authorities here wouldn't beleive me. Resulted in me being subpoenaed to the Ausländeramt and being lectured on how fortunate I was that I was an EU citizen, or I would have been arrested and they would have been quicker about it too.

This was 8 years ago, so either it wasn't at all, or they still hadn't heard about it 2 years after it was introduced...

I was actually told about it by the local authority when I went along to renew my Aufenthaltserlaubnis and they told me it wasn't necessary anymore.

I wonder if it was introduced at the time of the Schengen agreement?