§ 6 AufenthG: Visa

What is a visa?

A visa is a permission. With this permission, you are allowed to enter Germany.

Schengen visa and airport transit visa

There are EU rules about this. These rules are in Regulation (EC) No. 810 from the year 2009. Under these rules, the authority can give you a visa. The authority decides whether you get the visa. It is not a legal entitlement.

There are two types of visa:

1. A Schengen visa. With this visa, you are allowed to travel through the Schengen states. Or you are allowed to stay there. You are allowed to stay for a maximum of 90 days. These 90 days apply within a period of 180 days.

2. An airport transit visa. With this visa, you are allowed to travel through the international transit zones of airports.

Extension of the Schengen visa

Under the EU rules (Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009), the authority can extend your Schengen visa. The extension applies up to a total duration of 90 days within 180 days. The authority decides on this.

There is another possibility: 90 additional days within the same 180-day period. For this, the authority can extend your Schengen visa as a national visa. This is only possible for certain reasons:

• for reasons named in Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009, or
• because political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany must be safeguarded, or
• for reasons of international law.

Here too, the authority decides. It is not a legal entitlement.

Working with the Schengen visa

With a Schengen visa, you are not allowed to work (you may not carry out gainful employment). This is prohibited.

Exception: The authority has given you the Schengen visa specifically for the purpose of gainful employment. Then you are allowed to work.

National visa for longer stays

Do you want to stay in Germany for longer? Then you need a national visa for the federal territory. You get this visa before you enter.

For the granting of this visa, the same provisions apply as for:

• the residence permit,
• the EU Blue Card,
• the ICT Card,
• the settlement permit,
• the EU long-term residence permit.

Your lawful stay with the national visa is credited. This means: this time counts toward the time during which you hold a residence permit, an EU Blue Card, a settlement permit, or an EU long-term residence permit.

Exceptional visa

There is also an exceptional visa. What an exceptional visa is is set out in Section 14 (2).

An exceptional visa is issued either as a Schengen visa (see above, No. 1) or as a national visa (see above).