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How long does LEA Berlin need for a re-entry visa?
Recently, I did the stupidest thing a foreigner living in Berlin can do, and lost my residence permit while abroad (consequently, I still am). Don't ask why and how, I am speechl… Hi fellow Redditors.
Recently, I did the stupidest thing a foreigner living in Berlin can do, and lost my residence permit while abroad (consequently, I still am). Don't ask why and how, I am speechless myself.
I have an appointment soon at the local embassy where I am stuck, to apply for a re-entry visa. I was recommended to contact the Berliner LEA for a prior agreement in the meantime (dt: Vorabzustimmung, if you know, you know). They answered the first thing next workday, and said they don't do that, but prioritize working on the re-entry visas (as opposed to other types of visas).
Has anyone, by any chance, been in a similar situation recently? How long does it pend on LEA? Any success/failure stories? Any tips on how to obtain the visa asap or stay sane through all this?
Thanks in advance!
PS: I shall edit this post when I know the answer, so that the next idiot will know what to expect.
PPS: This sucks. Don't be the next idiot. Keep an eye on your eAT at all times.
honestly you're not the first person this has happened to, i know a guy who lost his eAT at a festival in croatia last summer. LEA took about 3-4 weeks for his vorabzustimmung from what he told me but that was before the current chaos with the ausländerbehörde backlog. the embassy might push it faster if you explain you have a job or something urgent here, they have direct contact channels sometimes.
one thing that helped him was getting a fiktionsbescheinigung from the embassy itself as a temporary measure while waiting, it's not a re-entry visa but it buys you time. also check if your local embassy can issue a national visa directly without waiting for LEA's approval, some do if you plead your case hard enough at the appointment. the waiting is the worst part, just keep bothering LEA by email every few days and mention your appointment date every time.
Had this exact situation last year after my wallet got lifted in Barcelona. The LEA took about 4 weeks to get back to the embassy with the Vorabzustimmung, but the key thing was that the embassy didn't actually wait for it to arrive on paper. They called the LEA's emergency line during my appointment and got a verbal okay on the spot, then issued the visa the same week.
One thing nobody told me that saved me a ton of stress - bring a digital copy of your old residence permit if you have one. The scanner app on your phone works fine. The embassy in my case used it to cross-reference my file number with the LEA database and that alone sped things up noticeably. Also worth asking the embassy if they can issue you a temporary travel document (Reiseausweis) while you wait, some do and it lets you at least move around Schengen.
yeah the embassy route is your best bet tbh. had a friend in the same spot after losing his card in greece, the LEA took 5 weeks to even acknowledge his file but the embassy in athens issued a national visa in 2 weeks without waiting for the vorabzustimmung. they just called the LEA directly during his appointment and the officer there said "ok we'll expedite" which apparently counts as enough approval on their end.
make sure you bring every document you can think of to the embassy - meldebescheinigung, arbeitsvertrag, mietvertrag, bank statements, anything tying you to berlin. the more proof you have that you're established here, the easier it is for them to justify bypassing the LEA waiting game. some embassies are stricter than others though, depends on the country
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What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.