How do you apply for a German residence permit after arrival in 2026?

EU citizens and citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland use free-movement arrangements rather than the standard third-country residence-permit process.

Other nationals should check whether they entered with a national visa, can apply after visa-free entry, or had to secure the correct visa before travel. Visa-free visitor status does not automatically allow every nationality to switch to work or study from inside Germany.

Use the Ausländerbehörde, the local immigration authority responsible for your registered home. In Berlin this is the State Office for Immigration; elsewhere the office may sit within a city or district administration.

Complete Anmeldung, Germany's compulsory address registration, and keep the registration confirmation. Locate the local immigration portal immediately because appointment and processing systems vary.

Submit the correct online or written application before your visa or current residence title expires. Save the submission receipt, uploaded files, emails, and appointment notice.

Expect a valid passport, biometric photograph, address registration, health-insurance proof, application form, and evidence for the chosen purpose.

Employment routes may require a contract, job description, qualification evidence, or approval-related documents. Students need university and funding evidence. Family routes require civil-status records and may require proof of housing or language.

Bring originals when instructed. Foreign civil or education documents may need certification, legalisation, an apostille, or a recognised German translation. An apostille is a certificate that confirms a public document's origin for international use.

The authority checks the legal route, takes fingerprints where required, collects the fee, and orders the elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel (eAT), the electronic residence permit card.

The card records the title, validity, and work conditions. Read any Zusatzblatt, the supplementary sheet listing additional conditions.

If a decision or card will not be ready before current evidence expires, ask whether a Fiktionsbescheinigung, a temporary certificate showing continued lawful status during processing, is appropriate. Its work and re-entry effect depends on the legal basis and wording. Confirm before leaving Germany.