Leaving Germany after residing here illegally

I shudder to think of what would happen to say, a Nigerian who overstayed their American visa by so long!

Why is it that it's the people who have the least restrictions, who treat them with the most contempt?

You don't have to be Nigerian to face dire consequences. This goes for Europeans in the US as well.

I was treated with alot of contempt by US border guards at my last arrival. I was picked out of the line and transfered to an "interview" room. Actually more looked like i was going to meet a judge. They even played little mind games me, whispering, staring at me and shaking their heads while i was sitting there.They kept me in the dark about the "problem" and i was interviewed after waiting 2 hours on a tiny chair. Pretty personal questions. Later admitted it was a routine. The two girls i visited in the US were French and German with long student visas but they knew of stories with detentions that lasted for a whole day.

When you just think to mess with them, and overstay you'll not be treated any better than any other national. (> "Nigerian")

I'm not complaining. It's the bitter pill you swallow, but there has to be a level of awareness.

Has anyone mentioned open borders? Just drive to France, get a plane. Change your name in the US, get a new social security number and "fast track" passport, then come back... legally this time ;-)

If you change you name, you do not get a new SSN, and the German government wouldn't know your SSN anyway. That's a, awful lot of trouble to go to for some band that doesn't make any money (or not much).

Germany is somewhat less hostile to overstays than the US. However, a friends Peruvian girlfriend (she is a visa national from the German viewpoint) overstayed her visa by some weeks. When she left with her boyfriend she was pulled to one side and she was told that she had overstayed and whilst they would let her leave, she may have difficulty returning and would not be able to without paying a fine. However, she was allowed to leave.

In the case of the OP, the Germans could pull his visa waiver privileges (it has happened to Europeans who weren't careful about seeing immigration to register leaving the country), in which case you may need a visa to return. However they will tell you this when you leave.

I would suggest the same.
While you really should get a slap on the wrist for staying here without the proper paperwork, I think many people here are overblowing things quite a bit. I knew a guy who was working without a visa and got fined around €8000. He wasn't expelled from the country and his visa, which was already being process at the time he was fined, was not denied. He still lives and works here.

Switzerland still uses the Schengen Information system so your details will be saved and shared with all EU/Schengen countries Border officers.

highered - Every time I've been to the US I've been very carefully checked out
by the US immigration folk. You clearly have problems if you overstay.
The least is that you are likely to be denied re-entry on a tourist visa
A serial no. goes into the computer on entry to the US and you are registered as an overstayer
if you are not out in time and the serial no. checked off.
According to the New York Times (last time I was in the US) overstayers are
hardly ever looked for or found (hardly any resources available).
On entering the US on a tourist visa (filled out on the plane) there is clearly no check that
the US address you state as your destination even exists.
(No wonder there are 14 million illegals in the US) - The problems come however when you want
to leave.

Going back some years I remember a friend left Germany for good but had not paid an outstanding fine. After a year or so he came back to visit, by train, and was stopped at the border (this was before open borders in EU.) He was immediately arrested and thrown in jail until he paid the outstanding fine. This was for DM3,000 which worked out to a 30 day jail sentence at DM100 per day. He actually quite enjoyed it as he got good food each day, a litre of beer and had a color TV in his cell. He wasn't too happy when a friend bailed him out as he was then liable for the rest of the fine. I would suggest that if the OP left the country, when he tries to return he may find himself in a lot of trouble...

Yes, CBP attempts to identify overstays. The problems for the travelers, however, occur mainly when trying to reenter the country.
That's why it's important to make sure the airline collects your I-94 on departure and maintain records of your departure in case it doesn't get recorded.

Trouble is, once you have handed that green card that was inside your passport you have no guarentee that the airline handles it properly.
Like if it falls between some papers on their desk you are none the wiser...

Until you get the third degree when you come back.
That's why I recommend saving boarding passes, etc. until you reenter the US.

CBP officers are, however, aware that their exit control records are far from accurate. That's why they've done pilot projects with US Visit to improve it.

I do not know if you left the country already (or if you are in jail already ), but if I were you I will cross the Swiss border via one of the "walking" crosses, no check point involved, then I would fly to the USA and next time just comeback as per normal.

Provided you are an Angestellter, it's the employers' responsibility to inform you that your permission is nearing expiration. Your employer is at fault, not your and there is no penalty.

If you've been paying taxes then you've done nothing wrong except "forget" to reapply for permission due to your employers negligence to notify you.

Go to the immigration office and apologetically explain when you reapply. They know the law and that your employer is at fault.

I've had the exact same situation and nothing happened, they didn't even give me a mean look.

I doubt this very much. Or rather, I doubt that much comes of it and I'll tell you why.

I was illegal for 3 years - and didn't know it. I had a 5 year visa permission which was revoked. The revocation letter was sent to my ex who didn't feel fit to give it to me. I stayed here unaware, working, paying taxes, registered all the usual stuff one does when they live anywhere. When I renewed my visa after the 5 years is when I learned I was illegal. I had come and gone from the US, UK, France, Italy several times in that 3 years without incident.

After this, I had another incident where my visa expired and a month later I ran to the immigration office really afraid of the consequences, and that is when I learned that it was the employers responsibility to notify the immigrant employee - with enough time - that they need to renew. When a company employs immigrants they take on the responsibility of making sure they stay legal while employed by them.

I think people are being a little bit alarmist. It's not like you were hiding - you have a job, your flat is registered, you maybe have cable in your name??... and you WERE paying taxes right? I think you have nothing to worry about.

You obviously missed this post...

So not an Angestellter and no taxes have been paid and far from being someone who just forgot to renew an existing visa or even have one revoked. He didn't have one in the first place - which makes the whole thing a little more serious as well.

But feel free to not alarm the OP...

I hope you realize that the poster was talking about staying in the US illegally. According to your profile you are American so you're likely talking about staying in Germany illegally. Two different things, and I do know that the US is very very strict with their immigration system. And you can run into trouble if you forget to give your I-94 to the airline people, though there is an option to send it in later, along with documentation that you really did leave, if it is left in your passport accidentally. It is possible that Europe is less strict (in the US you can be banned for several years from re-entering the US in any way, if you overstay a certain period), I wouldn't know.

Why are people saying just go home for 3 months? 180 days is more like 6 months...


This would probably be the kind of advice that got you in trouble in the first place. People who live illegally or choose to do this and that will make up excuses or "rules" for themselves to convince themselves everything is okay and there will be no consequences. ("Everyone is doing it, oh there's a grace period man chillax.")


You don't understand that when you are a rock star, you do not need to contribute to society with taxes, you can change the world with you songs and are far too busy to keep track of money from gigs or file taxes.

Dude did you even register your address with the KVR or whatever the Berlin Magistrate or whatever is called?

Your story sounds somewhat reasonable, but like others have said the border control and government officials will not care. Your excuses about never having been to another country are pretty laughable too, it sounds pretty obvious you knew that you didn't have enough information on what needed to be done. Also not having enough money to leave the country is whoa. I think you're up shit creek for a few reasons.

1) You overstayed by over 7 months.
2) You have not paid any taxes. You don't have a job it sounds like or a boss/company that could go to bat for you to try to sort things out.
3) Have you had valid health insurance?
4) What is the incentive for the German government or the EU to allow you back in? They let you in once you disregarded their laws, but anyway during the time you did stay what actions did you take that in some way helped the country? Actions like this I feel hurt anyone outside of the EU who just wants to come as a tourist or come to live. A friend from Pakistan was going to come stay with me but wasn't able to as his planned 3 week vacation had to be cut short to 1 week because of Visa restrictions.

I feel for you in some ways but time to man up and see what happens. And it's pretty wild you'd leave behind your girlfriend and new life here to go visit friends in NYC. Still curious what you've decided to do.

I hope they throw the book at you. I overstayed by a few days. I didn't even realise it, because my visa said it was valid until June 30, plus when I landed at Hamburg, the immigration officer asked to see my ticket, which showed my return date. He looked it over, asked me a couple questions then stamped me through. Also, whenever I'd applied for Schengen visas in the past, they were always valid for the length of time I wanted to stay in the country. When I was leaving, guy at passkontrolle shouted at me and I got hauled into the immigration office. I had to fill in all these forms, sign these things and pay a €150 fine. All for a few days, where I wasn't even working or anything and actually contributing to the economy by spending a shit load of cash plus my husband is British and working in Munich.

When I went into the office, a girl from New Zealand was there with the same problem, but she'd only been there for two months illegally. Her fine was €300 and she got escorted to her flight. It was so humiliating to have to be escorted to the bathroom and to the cash point to get the money out.

People like you who abuse your priveliges really get on my nerves. Us non-EU visa nationals have to jump through all these hoops to be allowed into these countries. You twats can swan in and out as you please and you take the piss? They should take your passport off you! Especially seeing as the US can do shit like bar entry to a four year old boy, because his name is similar to one on the 'terrorist list'.

But I've learned my lesson. I hope you don't get away with it, despite all these well-meaning people giving you advice as to how to cheat the system. The rules exist for a reason so like someone else said, be a man and face the music.

It is a rolling 180 day period. You are allowed to be in the Schengen zone for 90 days in that rolling period.
If you are in 90 days, and then stay out for 90 days, on the 181st day from when you began your first day in Schengen when you return, then you have been in 90 days in the last 180 days (89 from the previous stay + one from current stay). Each day you stay, one day drops off the window and you remain at your max every day (88+2, 87+3, 86+4 ...).

(Of course all of this assumes you were legal to begin with.)

I can swan into the country, so I can't speak for how terrible it is, although in Austria I did have to provide a laundry list of demands to get a student visa, (Go to a local Police station at home get a detailed criminal record check, bank account statements, etc). But I want to live here, so I respect the rules and make sure to file away all the papers, register for this deregister for that.

If there is so much misinformation being spread by non-EU visa nationals in places like Berlin, Prague and Krakow it'd be worth the German government making examples out of a few people wouldn't you think? To me a 1-2 year ban and 1-2K euro fine wouldn't be out of place. But really if they wanted to stop people from educated countries who just want to abuse tourist visas they should just adopt a strict policy of, overstay your visa by a month? Goodbye to the EU for 5 years. I'm sure then the misinformation and Laissez faire attitude would vanish overnight.


Ah sot hat's what this rolling period business is all about. It's pretty funny just how many people believe the leave the EU for a weekend come back makes everything okay. In Austria the school had such problems helping us get Visa's they restored to giving us the same advice. Which I don't think really would have helped.

Unfortunately, this misinformation is quite widespread. It may have worked that way in some countries in the past (pre-Schengen), but the rules now are quite clear. If it were true, it would render the rules sort of meaningless...