Planned Reform of the German Residence Act Part 2: Students

On June 23, 2023, the German Bundestag delegates approved a German Government legislative proposal for the further development of skilled labor immigration. The law is expected to be implemented at the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser commented that Germany will now receive the most modern immigration law in the world. Nearly two million jobs were vacant at the end of 2022, and the lack of skilled workers is currently considered one of the biggest obstacles to economic growth in Germany. The legislation that has now been passed is intended to be a major step forward for Germany's future in terms of skilled labor migration and to secure prosperity in the long term.

Following the first blog in this series that focused on employer and employee impact, this second blog will focus on the new developments and changes that are specific to residence permits for foreign students living and studying in Germany.

Key changes to residence permits for students

Duration of residence permit validity

According to the current regulations, the period of validity of the residence permit for the first time and for the extension should not be less than one year and should not exceed two years. This regulation has often resulted in student permits being issued with a validity of no more than one year. This has now been adjusted in favor of students.

As soon as the new regulations come into force, the period of validity of the residence permit should generally be two years for the initial permit and subsequent extensions. The aim is to ensure that students are granted a permit with a longer validity period right from the start, thus reducing the need for renewal submissions and lessening the burden on the immigration authorities.

Work authorization

Within the framework of labor market access for students, very important improvements are being introduced for students who will also be working while studying.

Previously, students were permitted to engage in gainful employment for up to 120 full days or 240 half days per calendar year whilst their residence permit is valid and while studying. The purpose of this regulation was to ensure that the main focus of study could remain and that it would continue to be the main objective of the student's stay in Germany while also providing an opportunity for the student to earn income while studying.

With the implementation of the new regulation, students will be permitted to work for up to 140 working days per calendar year. A so-called "working day account" must be kept on the counting of days. As before, academic student jobs ("Studentische Nebentätigkeiten") are not counted towards the number of working days.

With the implementation of the law, part-time employment may be credited at the option of the student as follows:

1. The employment may be counted as a half working day for each day on which the working time is up to four hours, otherwise as a full working day on the working day account.
2. The employment during a semester may be counted as two and a half working days per calendar week, if it is performed for up to 20 hours per calendar week. It is counted as two and a half working days per calendar week outside the semester, regardless of the distribution and the number of working hours.

For each calendar week, the student must choose whether the calculation should be counted according to option one or two.

In practice, this will mean that at the beginning of each week, the student will have to determine the most favorable option for him or her. At the same time, however, this rule implies that during the semester break, employment will be considered with fewer actual working days than within the semester. During the semester break, students will be allowed to work full-time regardless of the number of hours - nevertheless, only two and a half working days will be counted per week.

In Germany, the study-free period is usually between four and five months per year, i.e., 16-20 weeks. Based on the new method of calculation in the context of semester breaks, therefore, a more favorable calculation of these days for the student is applied. Instead of 100 working days (20 weeks of five working days each), only 50 working days could be credited under the new regulation. This represents a tremendous ease for students and securing a livelihood given that the previous practice was only 120 days.

How will this work in practice?

As an example, Anna is a student and is currently studying in her second semester in Munich. Based on the new legal regulations, she may work for up to 140 working days per calendar year. Anna currently has a part-time job. Due to the new regulations, she must keep a so-called work account.

Anna would now like to work during the semester. Therefore, at the beginning of the week, she plans to work full-time for four days during the week. Therefore, she decides to choose option 1 and works four working days this week. During the next week, however, Anna knows that she wants to work for five days, but these workdays will only be for four hours each. Therefore, she chooses option 2 for this week and is only charged for two and a half working days.

During the semester break, Anna has more free time. Therefore, she is willing to work full-time for one week. Since this is during the semester break, this week only counts as two and a half working days, despite full-time employment.

Change of purposes of residence

In addition to the new regulations mentioned above, a relaxation will be introduced for the so-called change of immigration status transition of residence purposes (switching from student permit status to work).

Until now, the change from a student permit to a permit for gainful employment has been significantly restricted. For example, it was not possible to change from a student permit to a permit for work specialists with many years of professional experience. This will change fundamentally with the implementation of the new regulation. As soon as the new regulations come into force, it will also be possible to switch to permit types for specialists. Therefore, people who have several years of professional experience gained during or prior to their studies (usually at least three to five years) will be able to switch from the student permit to this permit type after the implementation of the new regulations. This may become relevant if courses of study already completed abroad are not recognized as equivalent to a German university degree. 

Nevertheless, it will still not be possible to switch from the student permit to temporary employment, such as assignments or work as an au pair/household help.

Going forward

These regulations are intended to create a more attractive immigration environment for foreign nationals currently studying in Germany. Based on the reforms, it is evident that the German government is focused on relaxing the criteria for obtaining work permits for this important group of people and creating an improved future perspective for people who have already studied in Germany.

Need to know more?

Please look out for part three of this blog series next week, which will discuss the planned changes to the regulatory framework for permanent residence options, as we expect important changes to periods during which a permanent residence permit can be obtained.

For further information and advice on this topic, please contact Senior Associate Ruben Fiedler at [email protected]. This blog was published on July 19, 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes.

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