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Anhörung Letter Before a Refusal: What It Means and How to Respond

Fiona Macdonald
2 days ago
6 min read

Nothing has been decided yet. A letter headed Anhörung (hearing) means the office has looked at your application and intends to refuse it. Before it decides, it gives you a formal chance to comment. What you send before the deadline goes into the file the decision rests on. The reply should be in writing, must arrive on time, and should deal with every reason the letter gives. This is the stage at which a lawyer can do the most for you: the decision is still open, and a well-argued reply can change it.

Why you receive a letter before the decision

The letter can come from the Ausländerbehörde (foreigners authority) or from a naturalization office. In Berlin, that is the Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA). It arrives before a negative decision on a residence permit, an EU Blue Card, a settlement permit or naturalization.

The rule behind it is § 28 Abs. 1 VwVfG: before a decision that interferes with a person’s rights, such as refusing to extend a permit, the authority must generally let that person comment on the relevant facts. For a first application or naturalization, courts read that duty narrowly, but offices usually send a hearing letter anyway. Formally, each Land has its own procedure act with matching rules. This article cites the federal sections.

The letter should name the facts the office relies on. It might be a salary below the Blue Card threshold, or too few months of pension contributions. It might be a language certificate the office does not accept. Those reasons set the agenda for your reply.

The deadline can move, and the file is open to you

The office sets the deadline itself, so it is not fixed. Under § 31 Abs. 7 VwVfG, such a deadline can be extended, even after it has passed. A lawyer’s first step is to ask for more time, in writing and before the date, with a specific reason: the file has been requested, say, or a paper from your employer is still outstanding. Count on the extra time only once the office confirms it.

In residence matters, timing counts double. Under § 82 Abs. 1 AufenthG, you must put forward the facts and evidence in your favor without delay. The office can set a deadline for this. It can then ignore anything that comes in later.

The letter shows the office’s conclusion. The file shows how it got there. It may hold internal notes, statements from other agencies and earlier letters. § 29 Abs. 1 VwVfG gives you a right to see the files as far as you need them to defend your legal interests. Draft decisions are excluded until the procedure ends. A lawyer acting for you exercises this right on your behalf and reads the file before a word of the reply is written.

The request for the file and the request for more time go in the same letter. The extension then has an obvious reason.

What the reply has to do

The reply takes the reasons one at a time. If the office has a fact wrong, the reply proves it. A corrected statement from your employer, missing payslips or a pension record (Versicherungsverlauf) help. If the facts are right but the legal conclusion is not, the reply says why and names the provision. If a paper is missing, it goes with the reply, or the reply says when it will arrive.

Personal circumstances carry weight where the law gives the office discretion. Where a rule is mandatory, the reply must show that it is met. Sometimes a different permit fits the facts better. The reply can then include an application for it. One example is a skilled-worker permit under § 18b AufenthG instead of a Blue Card.

Every attachment is listed and copied. The reply goes out in a way that proves the date it arrived.

If there is no reply, or if you receive a refusal anyway

Without a reply, the office decides on the file as it stands. If you applied for an extension, a refusal also ends your provisional right to stay. § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG keeps the old permit in force only until the decision. An objection or a lawsuit does not suspend the refusal (§ 84 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 AufenthG). To stop the office from enforcing your departure while the case runs, you then need an urgent application to the administrative court under § 80 Abs. 5 VwGO.

A refusal of a residence title must be in writing and give reasons. It must also name the remedy, where to file it and the deadline (§ 77 Abs. 1 AufenthG). Under § 68 VwGO, an objection (Widerspruch) comes before a lawsuit unless a law says otherwise. Which one applies depends on the law that governs your office. The decision tells you in its notice on legal remedies (Rechtsbehelfsbelehrung). Either way, the deadline generally is one month from notification.

This is why the hearing stage matters. Before the decision, the reply can still change the outcome. Afterwards, every argument has to go through a formal remedy, under a short deadline.

When to get a lawyer

You can reply yourself. No rule requires a lawyer at this stage. But the hearing is the point at which legal help achieves the most. The decision is still open, and a reply that meets each of the office’s reasons on the law and the evidence can change it. After a refusal, the same arguments have to go through an objection or a lawsuit, with a one-month deadline.

A lawyer reads the full file, not just the letter, and so knows what the office relies on. The reply answers each reason with the provision and the evidence the law recognizes. It also checks whether another permit fits the facts better. Once you appoint a lawyer, the office should address its letters to the lawyer (§ 14 Abs. 3 VwVfG). Letters then reach someone who tracks the deadlines, even while you travel.

Representation matters most when the letter raises a legal question rather than a missing document. It also matters when a refusal would end your right to stay, or when the office doubts that a job or a marriage is genuine. Settlement permits and naturalization often turn on how months are counted, and that is easy to get wrong without the file.

Make the hearing deadline count

Fiona Macdonald is a German immigration lawyer (Rechtsanwältin). She advises English-speakers on residence permits, the EU Blue Card, permanent residence and naturalization. Fiona Macdonald advises clients anywhere in Germany and internationally by video. In a consultation, she goes through the hearing letter and your documents with you and discusses the best path forward. She can also represent you from the hearing stage onward: she requests the file and more time, and writes and files the reply.

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Sources

Last reviewed: October 2026 — RAin Fiona Macdonald

This article reflects information available at the review date above and may not remain current as rules and practice change. It is general information only, not legal advice, and does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Liability for reliance on its contents is excluded to the extent permitted by law.

© 2026 Fiona Macdonald Rechtsanwältin

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