Hi everyone,
I am a student from the US who has just entered Germany on a scholarship to study for the year. And, well, there's no two ways around it... today I was caught shoplifting at Karstadt. I was detained by the store detectives and then processed by the police. I had walked around the store gathering items and put some in a shopping bag. When I went into the dressing room, I transferred some of these items (removing the security tag from a box of perfume) to my backpack. After I left the dressing room, the store detective approached me and asked me to go with him. I know that concealment of items (and especially the removal of a security tag) probably means that I have no chance of not being convicted. The value of the items were around 200 euros. I was extremely stupid, I know, but now I will have to accept the consequences of my actions.
My questions are:
1) I already have my Anmeldebestatätigung, and am in the middle of applying for my residence permit (but have not yet sent in the application). Will this affect my application? The visa application asks if I have ever been convicted of a crime -- can I still put no if my crime is being processed?
2) How much do you think the fine will be? I've tried to google and read TT, but it seems like it ranges from 50 to 1500 euros. My income is 750/month.
Many thanks for any advice you can give to shed light on this process!
