Travelling while your residence application is pending: what the Fiktionsbescheinigung allows

Your visa is done, your residence permit is running — and then the letter from the foreigners authority arrives: the application is still pending. That is exactly when the question comes up that worries many people. Can I travel in the meantime and come back?

The answer does not lie in the situation but in one box on your Fiktionsbescheinigung. Because section 81 of the German Residence Act (AufenthG) knows two fictions, and they have very different consequences for travel.

Two fictions, two answers

Under continuation (§ 81(4)) you already held a residence title and applied for an extension or another title in time before it expired. Your previous title then continues until a decision is made — with all rights, including employment. What matters for you: this variant entitles you to re-enter Germany, even without a new visa.

Under permission (§ 81(3)) you do not yet hold a title and are making an application. Your stay is then treated as permitted until the decision. That is enough to stay here — but not to re-enter. Anyone who leaves with this certificate alone cannot come back; that would need a visa.

The box decides

On the Fiktionsbescheinigung it is ticked which fiction applies: either "the residence title is deemed to continue" (§ 81(4)) or "the stay is deemed permitted" (§ 81(3)). That is what matters, not the expiry date. The certificate is usually valid for three to six months, costs around €13 and is not a residence title — it merely documents the effect of your application.

An example

A student with a residence permit under § 16b, expiring on 31 March, applies for an extension in February. That means § 81(4) applies: she can fly home during the semester break and return without a new visa, as long as the certificate is valid and the old title continues. Her flatmate, by contrast, submitted his first application only after expiry — (3), stay permitted, but leaving would be a one-way street.

If you urgently need to travel

If your certificate says (3) and you still have to go, talk to the foreigners authority in good time. Sometimes it can be solved with a re-entry permit or a visa from the German mission abroad. Always clarify this before booking, not after — otherwise it gets unpleasant at the airport.

Anyone who holds no title and stays only briefly falls under the 90/180-day rule; the fiction under § 81 is a different case.

In short

If you want to travel, look at the fiction first, not at the expiry date. Continuation (§ 81(4)): out and back in. Permission (§ 81(3)): in only. And an expired title without a timely application is something quite different from a running fiction.

Sources

Section 81 AufenthG (application for a residence title, fiction effect): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufenthg_2004/__81.html
Service Berlin — Fiktionsbescheinigung (subsection 3 vs 4, travel): https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/326233/
Chancen NRW — Fiktionsbescheinigung (effects, (re-)entry): https://www.mkjfgfi.nrw/fiktionsbescheinigung
Hamburg Welcome Center — information sheet on the Fiktionsbescheinigung (travel, what applies)

This page is general information and not legal advice or advice on an individual case. Whether you may travel depends on your specific certificate and the individual case; what is binding is the information from the competent foreigners authority. No liability accepted, as at 17.10.2026.