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I came to Germany with a study visa, now I have a residence permit for study purposes. What does this mean for me?

It is important for you to understand that if your residence permit is for study purposes, is it in most cases tied to your enrollment in a specific study program in Germany (please check the permit in your passport for the respective information). This means that you are only allowed to stay in Germany as long as you are an enrolled student in your study program. Your visa shows a specific period of validity, but regardless of this, it will automatically lose its validity when you lose your enrollment. If you fail an exam for the last time, you will lose enrollment in the following semester and consequently lose your visa status on the first day on which you are not enrolled anymore (i.e. 1st of October or 1st of April of the following semester). If you don’t have a valid visa anymore you become “illegal”, meaning you have to leave Germany and the Schengen area and return to your home country.

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to you to keep your student status at all times. 

Please be aware that in order to transfer to another master’s program at FAU, you need to formally apply for this alternative program via the Campo portal within the official application period and be granted admission to this program. Therefore, you MUST apply to other suitable English-taught master’s programs at FAU in the semester in which you have your last exam attempt. In addition to programs at FAU, you MUST also apply to programs at other German universities in order to broaden your chances. Please inform yourself early on about the application deadlines! Public universities tend to have earlier deadlines. Private universities (e.g. in Fürth) might offer you the chance to apply until shortly before the start of the new semester, but they charge high tuition fees. If you get admission to the alternative study program, you have a backup plan for the following semester if you cannot continue your studies in the Medical Engineering program.

You have to inform the immigration office when you change your study program. Please note, however, that the immigration authorities will usually only allow you to change your study program once.

Please take this matter very seriously or else you will get into serious trouble with the immigration authorities.