Persons with a legal residence status are persons with a residence permit/visa or settlement permit, EU citizens and their family members as well as persons with a visa exemption.
The services of the offices for Foreigners' Affairs require an appointment.
Please note that your request can only be processed at the office responsible for your place of residence. Please book an appointment – online or via email – with the office of the district in which you are registered.
In order to apply for residence documents (Aufenthaltskarten) in accordance with the Freedom of Movement Act for EU citizens and their family members, as well as for the initial issue, extension or transfer of a residence permit, please use the Online Dienst Aufenthaltserlaubnis (German) or the Online Service Residence Permit Hamburg (English).
In order to book an appointment for
- issuance of residence certificates (§ 51 AufenthG; BAföG),
- extension of a visa-exempt stay (§ 40 AufenthV),
- general information on residence status, or
- submission of a declaration of commitment,
please get in touch with the responsible local office (see list below).
Please contact us if you cannot keep an appointment you have booked in advance. Around 10% of booked appointments are not kept, resulting in lower availability and longer overall waiting times.
Info on Services for Foreigners
For more information on our services, please call our central service hotline at (+49 40) 115 from Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Please note that it is not possible to make appointments for the Foreigners' offices via the HamburgService hotline.
Migration Office (Amt für Migration)
Please contact the Amt für Migration (German only) for the following services:
- Zentrale Erstaufnahme (ZEA): first point of contact for refugees and persons seeking asylum in Hamburg as well as all persons without a valid residence permit in Germany,
- General services for foreigners: legal residence issues of foreign nationals whose residence status is not permanently secured (e.g. holders of temporary residence permits or tolerated stay permits), or
- Citizenship and naturalisation issues, e.g. applications for naturalisation.
Hamburg Welcome Center
The Hamburg Welcome Center is the primary point of contact in the following cases:
- For persons who wish to apply for a residence permit for the first time after entering Germany for vocational training, further education, employment or self-employment/freelance work (§§ 16a–21 AufenthG),
- For skilled workers who wish to extend or transfer their residence permit (§§ 18a–g AufenthG), or
- For family members of the persons mentioned above who require a residence permit.
Please use the Online Dienst Aufenthaltserlaubnis (German) or the Online Service Residence Permit Hamburg (English)to find out which office is responsible for your request and submit your application.
Please note: For immigrants still located outside of Germany, the respective German diplomatic mission abroad is responsible. You can find them here: German Missions Abroad.
Note for refugees from Ukraine: Please find current information on the validity of your residence permit in the PDF document attached below.