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Permanent Residence or Blue Card Renewal Stuck? The Untätigkeitsklage

Fiona Macdonald
1 day ago
5 min read

An engineer in Munich applied in March to move from her EU Blue Card to permanent residence. The Blue Card expired in June. In October she has a paper Fiktionsbescheinigung (certificate confirming the effect of her application), a wedding abroad in December and no decision from the Ausländerbehörde (immigration office). She may stay and work, because she applied before the permit expired. The delay still costs her, and once three months have passed on a complete file, an Untätigkeitsklage (action for failure to act) is the formal way to make the office decide.

Your position while the application is pending

If you apply for an extension or a different residence title before your current one expires, § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG treats the old permit as continuing from its expiry date until the office decides. That covers a Blue Card or other extension, a Niederlassungserlaubnis (settlement permit) under § 9 or § 18c AufenthG and EU long-term residence under § 9a. The effect arises by law when you apply; the Fiktionsbescheinigung under § 81 Abs. 5 only confirms it. Berlin’s official service portal states that the permit is considered to continue with all its conditions, including the permission to work. Schengen visas are excluded.

If you applied after your permit expired, nothing continues automatically. The office may order the continuation to avoid undue hardship (§ 81 Abs. 4 S. 3).

First-time applicants are in a different position. Citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel and a few other countries may enter without a visa and apply for their first permit in Germany within 90 days (§ 41 AufenthV). Applying in that window makes your stay permitted until the decision (§ 81 Abs. 3 S. 1 AufenthG). According to Service Berlin, that certificate does not allow re-entry and does not by itself allow work; for a skilled-worker permit or Blue Card, the job is allowed once the office has ordered the card, and the certificate then says so (§ 81 Abs. 5a AufenthG).

Why the wait still costs you

Travel is the first issue. Service Berlin states that travel abroad and re-entry are possible with a valid certificate under § 81 Abs. 4, used together with a valid passport. The certificate has its own validity date, so check that it covers the whole trip.

Your employer must check your right to work and keep a copy of your residence title on file (§ 4a Abs. 5 AufenthG). While you wait, that copy is a paper certificate that needs renewing whenever it runs out.

A job change is where delay hurts most. If your permit was issued for a specific job, any other employment is prohibited until the office allows it (§ 4a Abs. 3 S. 4 AufenthG), and the continued permit carries the same restriction. A pending change-of-employer request can keep you from starting the new job. Blue Card holders need no permission; in the first twelve months they must notify the office, which can suspend the change for 30 days and refuse it within that period (§ 18g Abs. 4, § 82 Abs. 1 AufenthG).

The facts can also change while the file waits: permanent residence under § 18c requires that you hold a qualifying job, and Blue Card minimum salaries are set anew each calendar year (§ 18g Abs. 7).

When an Untätigkeitsklage fits a residence file

Under § 75 VwGO, the action is available when the office has not decided within a reasonable time and has no zureichender Grund (sufficient reason) for the delay, as a rule not before three months after the application. Residence files are usually simpler than naturalization files, so three months carries more weight here.

The most common sufficient reason lies on your end: documents the office asked for and has not received. If it suspends processing for that reason, it must set you a deadline and name what is missing (§ 82 Abs. 1 S. 3 AufenthG). Another is an open criminal or regulatory-offense investigation against you, during which the office must suspend the decision unless it can decide regardless of the outcome (§ 79 Abs. 2).

Permanent residence under § 18c needs no approval from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency). Where approval is required, it is deemed given unless the agency tells the office within two weeks that the information is insufficient or the employer has not answered (§ 36 Abs. 2 BeschV).

Staff shortages are generally not a sufficient reason, as the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia (OVG NRW) held in September 2025. Where the office has a good reason, the court suspends the case and sets it a deadline (§ 75 S. 3 VwGO). Filing does not change your status: the continued permit under § 81 Abs. 4 lasts until the office decides.

When to get a lawyer

Advice makes sense once three months have passed on a complete file, and sooner if something concrete depends on the decision, such as a new job or a permit that expired before you applied. A lawyer can check whether your certificate says what it should, whether the office has a sufficient reason, and whether a letter or an action at the Verwaltungsgericht (administrative court) is the right next step.

Help your permit application to a decision

Fiona Macdonald advises on delayed permanent residence, Blue Card and permit extension applications. She reviews the file and your Fiktionsbescheinigung, writes to the Ausländerbehörde where a letter is enough, and files the Untätigkeitsklage at a flat fee where it is not. Fiona Macdonald advises clients anywhere in Germany and internationally by video.

Related reading

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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