Ich erinnere mich noch an diese Zeit. Als ich zum ersten Mal als Austauschstudentin nach Deutschland kam, war ich voller Energie und Erwartungen. Es gefiel mir so gut, dass ich beschloss, nicht nach Hause zu gehen, sondern zu bleiben, um mehr Deutsch zu lernen. Ich wollte hier ein Graduiertenstudium absolvieren.
Und jetzt, anderthalb Jahre später, verlasse ich dieses Land als das komplette Gegenteil von dem, was ich war. Obwohl ich mit einem tadellosen Dokumentenstapel zur Ausländerbehörde ging und alle Schritte befolgte, konnte ich mein Visum vier Monate lang nicht bekommen, währenddessen wurde mein Bankkonto gesperrt. Allein die Überweisung des Geldes vom Sperrkonto auf ein anderes Konto hat anderthalb Monate gedauert, und in der Zwischenzeit bedrohten die überfälligen Mieten, die Versicherungsgebühren, die Radiosteuer und die Briefe „Wenn Sie nicht zahlen, wird eine Mahnung verschickt und alle Verwaltungsgebühren werden in Rechnung gestellt“ jeden Tag mein Leben. Und gestern erhielt ich einen weiteren Brief von der Ausländerbehörde, in dem ich aufgefordert wurde, die nicht gezahlte Visumgebühr in Höhe von 55 Euro zu überweisen (ich konnte die Visumgebühr nicht bezahlen, weil mir das Visum nicht ausgestellt wurde, mein Konto gesperrt war und ich kein Geld hatte). Übrigens ist dieses Visum, das ich im August beantragt und im Dezember erhalten habe, nur bis Februar gültig (das heißt, das Visum, das ich mühsam abholen konnte und ein Drittel jedes Tages verschwendete, läuft zwei Monate nach Erhalt ab, und wenn ich länger hier bleiben möchte, muss ich nur einen Monat nach Erhalt das Visumverlängerungsverfahren erneut durchlaufen). Als ich diesen Brief bekam, brach ich völlig zusammen.
Ich verschwende jeden einzelnen Tag mein Leben wegen der verdammten Ausländerbehörde, ich muss die Verantwortung für die Fehler und Nachlässigkeiten der Ausländerbehörde übernehmen, und wenn mir klar wird, dass ich, der ich die Gesetze und Verfahren ordnungsgemäß befolgt habe, nicht die Beratung und Unterstützung erhalten kann, die Flüchtlinge erhalten (ich weiß natürlich, dass die Situation anders ist, diese Menschen sind in ihrem Überleben bedroht und brauchen humanitäre Maßnahmen. Aber ich brauche sie auch!!), bin ich ehrlich gesagt manchmal verbittert. Ich habe sogar einen „Entschuldigungsbrief bekommen, in dem steht, dass ich nichts falsch gemacht habe“ von der Ausländerbehörde (ja, Sie haben richtig gehört, die Ausländerbehörde hat mir tatsächlich einen Entschuldigungsbrief geschrieben). Ich zeigte diesen Brief allen Banken, Versicherungsgesellschaften und anderen öffentlichen Institutionen und erklärte, warum ich nicht zahlen konnte. Nach drei Wochen erhielt ich als Antwort: „Bringen Sie eine Bescheinigung mit, die beweist, dass der Brief echt ist.“
An alle Ausländer, die in Deutschland leben, ihr seid wirklich großartig. Ich habe heute ein Flugticket zurück nach Korea gekauft. Ich wünsche Ihnen viel Erfolg in Ihrem Leben in Deutschland.
Trotzdem vielen Dank, dass ich so viel erleben und lernen durfte.
+Hey, ich beschwere mich nicht über ganz Deutschland, die Menschen, die ich getroffen habe, die Reisen, die ich gemacht habe, die Erfahrungen, alles war das Beste. Aber die AUSLÄNDERBEHÖRDE war das Problem.
Ich habe niemanden, mit dem ich reden oder dem ich Luft machen kann, also haben Sie bitte einmal Geduld mit mir.
++Da einige von Ihnen an mir zweifeln, schauen Sie sich das an
I’ve done enough, and leaving this country
byu/Zealousideal_Net4166 ingermany
Von Zealousideal_Net4166
50 Kommentare
Hey, Auslanderbehörde is asshole, and there is no hope for Germany putting such stupid ass in government office. I feel you. I can not wait one day AI will replace these stupid ass. I hope you find new country to move to.
I feel you.
Just a bunch of robots following their commands from a textbook.
How could you not get access to the blocked account? If I remember correctly, the last time I had to proof funding from blocked account when I first arrived here, I could just activate it, use the money and they still gave me the proof of having the blocked account and Ausländerbehörde accepted it and I could use my money. Or am I reading something wrong here? Why was your bank account frozen in the first place and how does it have anything to do with Ausländerbehörde?
Anyway I wish you all well. The Ausländerbehörde is indeed very bad right now in most cities.
Wow. Incredible. I wish you all the best. I have been living in Germany for four years, and although I haven’t gone through everything you describe, I know what you mean. Sometimes I wonder how Germany can be a world power when its bureaucracy is one of the worst, and I can assure you that even the worst country in the world bureaucratically is better than Germany (I come from the third world and I know what I’m talking about). Germans are definitely very good people, so good that they get bogged down in bureaucratic problems without doing anything to change them.
This is a story played through many times over. The lack of proper staffing and delays caused by pretty much every Ausländerbehorde is a national disgrace over many years. Germany makes promises it cannot honour through bureaucratic incapability and incompetence. It wrecks lives.
This is so depressing. I have been in this position before, the never ending catch 22 of German bureaucracy.
Deliberate incompetence
Wish you all the best man 🙁
Behörden can be just terrible here in germany, you get old before they get done with something
Is it Berlin? I heard the bureaucracy is manageable in smaller cities.
I heard absurd stories like this from a German coworker who brought his wifes from the Philipines to Germany. Truly insane hoops to jump through, absurdly short time frames to bring additional information/pick up documents needed for other documents… I would have gone insane.
There is always a group of people who will voice their opinions that they are glad you are leaving. And there are many more who admire that you tried and are sorry for your bad experience with our terrible bureaucracy which should be there to support people like you who try. I wish you the best of luck and hope you can mentally recover and hopefully one day return.
I had to go back many many times. I have had horror stories that I used to tell the person who would become my spouse about every time I went from how obtuse they are about what documents you actually need, to having different lists on internal and external websites, to having someone in the student section call me a „scheiss auslander“ to my face through the glass (which had me understand why they had it everwhere there compared to the Burgeramt). My partner never really was sure how real it was until we got married and they were forced to come and sign a document in their presence and when they started to protest the woman running the counter basically threatened to deport me if they kept arguing with her. My partner then decided that everybody who works there is either the people who were written up by HR at ever Burgeramt across the city or that they must have some kind of Arschlochstest that they have to fail before being sent to work there.
edit: while I am adding fun horror stories I had a colleague who didn’t end up getting to work with us not because he didn’t have a visa but because after 4 months the Hamburg Auslaenderbehoerde had still not sent his physical file to the Berlin Auslaenderbehoerde. He was already here legally and everything just needed to have it sent over and the dragged their heels so much that our company as about to run into legal difficulties regarding his employment status.
In short…screw the Auslaenderbehoerde!
Oh man I hear you. The motherfucking Auslaenderblahblah have robbed me of a decent amount of time, too. The only reason I stayed was I was with the love of my life who I later married. Yours appears to be a worse situation, though, and I’m sorry for all the things you went through.
I feel you, all the best in the future
Can you name and shame what city Ausländerbehörde were you dealing with?
It would probably help other foreigners to avoid in the future? Unless it’s Berlin of course…😅
Germany. Land of bureaucracy. Even as a German it’s so annoying…
This is how Germany lets the best talent leave, and retains the refugees and people who doesn’t care
Fix it, Germany, it’ll be better for the country
why are these kinds of posts always downvoted?
I had this same problem just getting my visa to live here with my wife. It took a lot of frustration, and eventually a lawyer to get it done.
Every Behörde in Germany is a disgrace. Incompetence and victim-blaming all around.
Well, you are allowed the luxury to complain about the whole country. You have been treated badly and let down by the very system that’s supposed to be reasonable. There will always be some who will chime in with their own positive experiences. However, nothing can rid off the bitterness.
I feel you! The next endeavor will be great because there is no place like home!
if i havent invested so much in germany i also would probably leave, i went thru similar bs myself
i think for other folks reading this only thing i can say is always have extra money on top of your frozen account and always save up some emergency case money/ lawyer fee
if you don’t have that much money don’t stay or try to stay in germany
And our government, instead of fixing this mess, is now making deals with India to get more healthcare workers.
It’s insane, these immigrants will have to go through the same shitty system, and many will leave again, like you are doing now. I think one of the biggest problems is that each Ausländerbehörde is basically its own entity only responsible for its own town, those in large cities are chronically understaffed, those in rural areas probably have unused capacity. One step would be to make the whole thing digital and centralized, so that cases could be worked on by whichever caseworker across all of Germany is available, but nooo, our incessant Kleinstaaterei makes it impossible to get anything done…
Thank you for venting here. I’m sending you hugs. 🫂
Fucking ouch, yeah you’ve seen the worst part of this fucking country. I respect you leaving tbh. Good luck
Damn! I’ve been living here since 2013 and every now and then when I see such posts I still relate to the sentiment of each one of them. I work as a scientist in the STEM field. I have and still do consider leaving Germany every now and then. In many instances, the ABH themselves incorrectly processed my visa and put me in wrong categories several times, then gave me incorrect information and denied putting me on a better visas (Blue card or even PR) even though I was more than qualified for them. I got my German PR 9 years after living her and last year applied for citizenship. However, even though I am very well qualified for it I have to wait 3 years for a decision because the ABH in my city of residence moves at a snails‘ pace. Why do I not leave then? Well let’s just say that my circumstances prevent that from happening. So I take heart in the feeling that it is relatively better here (at the current moment) than elsewhere. It is wild out there and just existing can get very overwhelming very quickly here. I hope things work out for you. Good luck.
Feels like starting out life in Germany in a smaller town with an Ausländerbehörde is better. I have heard of people who moved to the smaller towns around Stuttgart to get an easier appointment and change to Blue Card.
My wife’s been waiting for her Elterngeld to be approved for over a year now. Our kid turned 1 and the procedure is blocked somewhere along the way. Nobody knows where and when it will be processed, nor if they need us to provide any other information or documents. We’ve truly lost all hope.
She also applied for citizenship and has been asked to provide the exact same set of documents for the third time already. It became a joke at this point..
Don’t worry man. Still I am happy that you are leaving with some good memories. I was also an exchange student at first in Germany and then I did my full time masters. But turns out it wasn’t what I had expected. Was super hard to make that decision and go back to my home country but now I am enjoying my life. I stay close to my family and building my sim rig and go sim racing outside as well. Sometimes you never know what life throws at you but good luck to you.
I’m so sorry that you had to go through all that. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to shoot me a message.
Germany really needs to get its act together, if it wants skilled workers and talented, aspiring young people to come and remain.
Fortunately I personally haven’t had much struggle with Ausländerbehörde beyond inconveniences, but I’ve heard enough horror stories both online and from people I personally know.
Still I’m thinking about leaving the country as well. For me it’s the broken healthcare system. I’m a fairly healthy adult. I haven’t been to doctor except for a few times a year just to get Krankschreibung when I caught a cold. Still I gladly paid hundreds of euros every month for the last 10 years. After all, I’m fortunate enough to be healthy and earning more than 90% of the population, and one day I too may be seriously ill or injured and will get to appreciate the functioning healthcare system. Or so I believed.
Last year my depression (and other mental health issues) got to the point I thought I needed help. Long story short, I still don’t get any therapy sessions or an appointment with a psychiatrist after more than half a year since I started seeking diagnosis and treatment.
So yeah, I’ve been paying a significant portion of my salary into the system that I barely used for 10 years, and when I finally need it, it’s unavailable. I’m not getting any younger and I will inevitably need proper healthcare for more serious things than a flu. I don’t even want to imagine how miserable my life will be when I’m 70 or 80 and have a bunch of health issues. And that is if I don’t die earlier of a curable disease for example, because I couldn’t get a timely medical attention.
I can sympathize with your situation. Kudus that you came so far and shared your experience.
Wishing you the best in life!
Sounds like Munich ABH they a group of useless people taking salary for nothing
Hey idk what to speak about your current situation, it’s awful to get such a cold hearted response always from the Foreign Office. May I know the city name ?
Btw I too returned from Germany due to my own problems but it was such a nice time for me there in Germany while doing masters
I respect your decision on coming back after all such mess. I have stayed in Kassel city for like 5 years almost and never had any problem with Foreign office there and always my visa was given for 2 years
I returned in 2024 and everything went soo smooth and nice … especially I love the place and people in Kassel …the happiest people I have ever seen
But I am really curious to know about your City and the ruthless people
Fuck the Auslanderbehörde. I once ended up working almost for free for a company that didn’t end up backpaying me after the Arbeitserlaubnis was approved after several long months. It made me physically sick. This was in 2010 or 2011, long before the refugee thing was even in effect.
I did leave for a few years after all that bureaucratic bullshit, mostly because I was so off-put by that whole process that I was looking for any excuse to return to the US.
Ultimately I did end up coming back, once I was able to think straight and reflect on the 2 different places I could live in.
Post the apology letter please! Black out all sensitive information of course.
Thanks for sharing this with us, and I’m so sorry this happened to you. You’ve been clear and law abiding in terms of the process. As someone who also live abroad, I hope whatever happens next with your journey it will be easier, and don’t have to deal with such things!
If you knew the total negative impact of the Ausländerbehörde to the German economy you’d be amazed. Skilled workers willing to work there are leaving the country one by one. They pay much more taxes than an average German and even more than an average AFD elector. You are loosing valuable people and you are blind because of your unfounded proud. Only the unskilled or criminal foreigners will remain because they don’t have any other alternatives.
Yeah that happens when you help millions of refugees without boosting personnel in those administrations.
This means that everyone loses out: refugees, skilled immigrants, and locals alike. Yes, people in need must be helped, but then you also need people to do the paperwork, or you have to simplify the procedures.
Can’t blame you, I’d probably do the same
That sounds incredibly frustrating and I hope you find a way to leave all the terror behind. Germany will still be here if you ever feel like giving it another go and hopefully whatever Ausländerbehörde is around then will actually be of service.
got damn 😌
I have been here from August all what i get its work go home rest and do it again the Saturday’s feels like corona time if u are late u can get any thing good I live in small town/city called Biberach and pretty much nothing happened here coffee’s are full off old people city its dead and u have nothing to do im struggling to make any friends because they don’t do small talks or anything also i don’t know the language in level to speak without struggle I try it in english this every time but didn’t work people are cold and just it looks all struggle with depression like i im rn I will do my best to stay here until i will found a way to do somewhere else like Us,Australia,Canada not to visit but to live until there I will be a depression guy live in fck dead city
Good luck for the restart. It takes a lot of strength to decide to uproot yourself from your home country and setup base in another. And even more to return and restart everything once more but here’s hoping wherever you go, things only get easier for you 🤗
As a native German I’m sorry you had to go through all this nonsense. German bureaucracy sucks.
Wish you the best for the future.
Sounds like Munich.
To all experiencing this s*it: Please send your ‘report‘ to the main office of the federal foreign ministry. We need to inundate them. I *always* send a report when one of my students gets torn up by an Ausländerbehörde. I don’t care if they‘re not in charge – someone needs to see the crap that’s happening day by day. And yes, the answer is always „we‘re not in charge“ but they‘re getting the next report next week.
Makes me sick to hear as a German that we treat people wo want to work and live here so badly
I understand you. I lost a job offer because the Ausländerbehörde process took too long. After waiting almost two years to find a job, the permit delay meant the employer couldn’t wait any longer. Now I have to start over, which feels exhausting. I admire your decision and honestly don’t know why I’m still trying.
I’m sorry for your experience with the Ausländerbehörde. Much of the bureaucracy procedures here in Germany are an inefficient mess, also for natives. I still wish you all the best for your future.
> “bring a certificate proving the letter is real.”
Jesus Christ i would run up the wall