Kenyan in Oldenburg Loses Permanent Residence Permit (Unbefristete) Fights to Get it Back

A Kenyan lady has found herself on the wrong side with the Ausländerbehörde when her permanent residence permit was withdrawn and exchanged for a “Duldung” awaiting her voluntary leave from Germany.

Let me start this story with a disclaimer, I would love to share this story with the half story and seek for mercy, but it would not do anyone any justice nor educate anyone in a similar situation.

The background

A Kenyan lady from Oldenburg, identified as Irene Wanjiru by Afronews, came to Germany almost 10 years ago. She got the unbefristete Aufenthaltstitel, permanent residence permit, and decided to relocate. She signed up for school in Dubai two years ago and basically moved from Germany.

She alleges that before her move to Dubai, the Ausländerbehörde allowed her to move but only if she returned to Germany every 6 months. So she moved to Dubai and went to school. She got married and after getting pregnant she returned to Germany to give birth and that’s when the madness began.

The Ausländerbehörde took away her residence permit and threatened to deport her, but being pregnant she couldn’t be deported, thus the “Duldung”, which is a temporary permit allowing her to stay in Germany awaiting forced deportation by the authorities or a voluntary exit.

“I feel really cheated by the Ausländerbehörde because they took away my permanent residence without any good reason,” Ms Wanjiru says, adding that the office “mistreated”, discriminated against her, and even threatened her while she was pregnant.

10th June, she gave birth to her son and with no reason to remain, the Ausländerbehörde is planning her exit.

 

Dealing with the Ausländerbehörde

My advice to ALL foreigners in Germany has always been: do your own research. BECAUSE, when the rubber meets the road, only facts can get you out of the s***. The Ausländerbehörde can promise you heaven and earth, but when s*** hits the fan, their usual excuse is, “You misunderstood what they meant (usually alluding to may be your German isn’t good enough to understand what they said).”

 

What German law says 

I did an article on this issue a couple of weeks ago, read here: Instances that May Lead to Losing Your German Residence Permit.

According to German law:

§ 51 Abs. 1 Nr. 7 AufenthG: “A residence permit expires 6 months after departure from Germany.

§ 51 Abs. 4 AufenthG : A longer period may be allowed on request, if the stay is in the interest of the Federal Republic of Germany abroad.

§ 51 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 AufenthG: Additionally, if you leave to start school or university abroad, your residence permit is automatically invalid at the point of exit. It does not matter if you return to Germany before the 6 month deadline.

The § 51 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 AufenthG doesn’t explicitly mention joining school or university abroad. It mentions activities whose “nature is long term” (aus einem seiner Natur nach nicht vorübergehenden Grund). The reasoning here is, if you were applying for a visa to come to Germany for the same, would you apply for a long term or short term visa for it? If it’s a long term visa, then it falls in this category.

I unfortunately don’t support the excuse on the Ausländerbehörde taking the visa “for no reason”. Was what they did right? That we can discuss, but did they follow the German law, unfortunately, they did.

The sad thing about this story is, although going to the press sometimes is used to force the authorities to do something, it can’t yield any results if the story is false. If you’re operating on a fallacy, it discredits you and discredits your story, then you lose any trust you might have gained from the readers. When you go to the press for mercy from the masses, then be honest about the situation.

PS: This is NOT authorised legal advice, please speak to a lawyer for specifics on your case.