Hi! I’m a British citizen with a German residency permit, expiring in November. My question is, do I need to go back to the UK for 90 days, before I can come back to Germany? Or can I stay in Germany for up to 90 days after my permit expiry date? The image from the gov website about it not counting towards the 90 day visa free limit isn’t clear to me.
Thanks!
https://i.redd.it/97bc2e2qnyrd1.jpeg
Posted by No-Establishment9832
1 Comment
Residence permits do not count toward the 90-day visa-free limit. That’s correct.
Background is the Schengen Borders Code, which states: “Periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa shall not be taken into account in the calculation of the duration of stay on the territory of the Member States.” (Art. 6 (2), sentence 2)
In this context, the Berlin Ausländerbehörde for example states: “strictly speaking, however, it is necessary for an exit from the Schengen area to take place first so that the necessary entry requirements under Article 6(1) of the Schengen Borders Code can be checked” That’s the reason for them to make use of one of the discretionary clauses to grant you a special residence permit for another 90 days stay; the idea is to not make it necessary for you to formally leave the Schengen area just so you can re-enter and use your 90 days.
However, I’m not sure how easy it is to get these permits, especially at smaller Ausländerbehörden (and especially since November is also just around the corner, processing times are known to be through the roof in many places). Just leaving the Schengen area and then re-entering seems to be the safest option in my opinion; you don’t have to wait on the Ausländerbehörde and by going through border control your permission of stay can get checked again.
Note that it is about the Schengen area, and not just Germany. So cheap options for doing that would be travelling to the UK or Ireland.