Extend humanitarian residence permit

How do you extend your humanitarian residence permit in Berlin?

Do you hold a residence permit on humanitarian grounds? Then you can have it extended. Humanitarian grounds include, for example, your recognition as a person entitled to asylum or as a refugee under the Geneva Refugee Convention. A ban on deportation, an obstacle to leaving the country, or a hardship case also count. Admission through a resettlement programme also counts. An extension is possible if this ground continues to apply. The authority — the State Office for Immigration (Landesamt für Einwanderung) (LEA) — decides on a case-by-case basis.

Submit the online application "Aufenthaltserlaubnis aus humanitären Gründen - Verlängerung" with the LEA. You can submit the application at the earliest 8 weeks before your residence permit expires. Prepare your documents as PDFs if possible. JPG, JPEG and PNG are also allowed. All files together may be a maximum of 100 MB. A single file may be a maximum of 7 MB. You can pause the application at any time, save it temporarily, and continue later. At the end you receive a PDF confirmation. This confirmation shows that your residence permit remains valid — even beyond the previous expiry date. However, this only applies if your residence permit had not yet expired on the day you submitted the application. Be sure to save the confirmation and print it out if possible.

After that, the LEA reviews your application as quickly as possible. If necessary, the LEA will request further documents from you. If you have to pay fees, the LEA will send you a payment request by email. Then pay the fees within 14 days. You can pay by credit card (Visa or Mastercard) or by PayPal. Once your application has been reviewed positively, you receive an appointment. Bring all required documents in original to this appointment.

There are some important restrictions. You must have your main residence in Berlin — a secondary residence is not enough. Your residence permit must be based on one of the following legal grounds: § 22, § 23, § 23a, § 25, § 25a or § 25b of the Residence Act (AufenthG). Do you hold a residence permit under § 24 AufenthG for refugees from Ukraine? Then you cannot use this application. For information, refer to the Ukraine portal of the Senate Chancellery of the Governing Mayor of Berlin. In principle, you also need a valid passport or passport replacement. However, this does not apply if you can demonstrably not obtain a passport in a reasonable manner. For persons recognised as entitled to asylum, as refugees, or as stateless, obtaining a passport is generally considered unreasonable. Do you already hold a travel document for foreigners, refugees, or stateless persons? Then you can also apply for its extension within the online application.

Note for families: each person needs their own application. You must submit a separate application for your spouse and for each child. Also keep your current email address ready — the LEA will contact you through it. Check your spam folder regularly as well.