Initial information on the Foreigners Office

You must fulfil certain requirements to be able to apply to the Foreigners Office in Munich.

• You must be registered in Munich. Further information on registering your place of residence in Munich.

Before entering Germany, you may need to apply for a visa at the relevant German diplomatic mission abroad. Please note that the Munich Foreigners Office is not responsible for this. The German diplomatic mission abroad can answer any questions you may have about your visa.

There is no visa requirement for citizens of the following countries: Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. They can enter Germany without a visa and apply for a residence permit within 90 days of entering the country.

EU/EEA citizens do not need a visa, residence permit or work permit.

Please submit your application online. All services that we offer online can be found in the online services of the Foreigners Office.

• Alternatively, you can send your application by post to the following address:

Kreisverwaltungsreferat
Ausländerangelegenheiten
Ruppertstraße 19
80466 München

• Alternatively, you can post your application in our letterbox in front of the entrance to the building at Ruppertstraße 19, Entrance A.

The path to an electronic residence permitHere we have outlined our processing procedure for you. Please note our processing times.

1. First you have to register in Munich.
2. Then you can apply for a residence permit online or by post. Please select the online application that suits you best.
3. Your application will be checked by the Munich Immigration Office. If necessary, missing documents will be requested from you.
4. You will receive an appointment from us by e-mail with an invitation for a personal interview. At this appointment, your fingerprints will be taken for your electronic residence permit.
5. The electronic residence permit will be created at the Federal Printing Office and sent to the Foreigners Office Munich.
6. The electronic residence permit will then be sent to you by post. If you wish, you can collect your electronic residence permit from the Foreigners Office.

We have summarised helpful tips for you here to speed up your application process:

• Apply for your residence permit in good time. We recommend submitting it three months before your previous residence permit expires.
• Please note our processing times of 10 to 12 weeks for temporary residence permits. The processing time for an application for a settlement permit is 6 months. The processing time for naturalisation applications is 12 to 18 months.
• We recommend that you use our online services. If you apply online, we will send you a confirmation in PDF format to download that we have received your application. You can present this as confirmation to your employer and other authorities.
• Please check independently via our website whether you fulfil the relevant requirements for your residence permit and have the required documents ready when submitting your online application.
• After your application has been checked, you will receive an appointment from us for a personal interview. Your electronic residence permit (eAT) will be ordered at this appointment. Once your residence permit has been ordered, it will take six to eight weeks to print your document.
• Please understand that we cannot process any enquiries about the status of your application during the processing time stated on the Internet.
• If you have any questions, please read through our service pages and our  FAQs first. This may clarify one or two questions by itself.

Please submit your application online. All services that we offer online can be found in the online services of the Foreigners Office.

For telephone enquiries and information, please call our service hotline on 089 233-96010.

You can reach us from:

• Monday to Thursday: 7.30 a.m. – 3.30 p.m.
• Friday: 7.30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

If you do not have a sufficiently valid residence permit but need urgent help due to an emergency, you can book an emergency appointment.

An emergency is, for example:

• Impending loss of employment
• Impending loss of benefits (e.g. unemployment benefit or student loan)
• Urgent travel for personal or professional reasons within the next seven days (e.g. business trip, illness, death)

The Foreigners Office checks and decides whether an emergency exists. Only proven emergencies can be processed.

You can only visit the Foreigners Office at Ruppertstraße 19 with an appointment. If there is an emergency, you can book an emergency appointment. You can find information on this under "Emergencies".

If you are in an ongoing or completed asylum procedure, are entitled to asylum, a refugee, entitled to subsidiary protection, have a ban on deportation or have received a confirmation of admission from the federal government, you can also come to the Foreigners Office without an appointment. The opening hours are as follows:

• Monday: 7.30 a.m. - 12 noon
• Tuesday: 8.30 am - 12 noon and 2 pm - 6 pm
• Wednesday: closed
• Thursday: 8.30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Friday: 7.30 a.m. - 12 noon

Please use entrance A at Ruppertstraße 19.

We are currently trialling a new system for issuing residence permits. As part of this pilot project, customers whose surname begins with the letters P to Z can also visit us at Entrance A (Ruppertstraße 19) without an appointment.

Please note this information.

Here you will find a list of frequently asked questions:

• Frequently asked questions and answers

Here you will find all useful information for refugees from Ukraine:

• Informationen für Geflüchtete aus der Ukraine