# Aufenthaltstitel



## Cuttlefish (Nov 19, 2016)

Hi Wise ExPatForumites 

I received a letter from the Auslaenderbehoerde saying that my electronic residence permit has been received by them...and then gave a lot of information about the Personalausweisportal website. It included 2 passwords/codes behind foils to rub off. I had a look at the sites and the relevant page on BAMF and also downloaded an App (AusweisApp2).

But it seems that I can't do anything until they send me an actual card - have I got this right?

Some of the language in the letter didn't make much sense to me and there isn't a definitive "you must do X and Y" anywhere in it. Some sites we have looked at seem to suggest that I will need to go and collect my actual card from somewhere (probably local Auslaenderamt) but that isn't clear yet.

As ever, thanks for any guidance.


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## Überling (Mar 18, 2021)

Call your contact person at the Auslaenderbehoerde. Whenever I got stuck, and I got stuck with the same problem you’re having, my contact walked me through what needed to be done. If necessary, find someone to translate for you.


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## Cuttlefish (Nov 19, 2016)

Überling said:


> Call your contact person at the Auslaenderbehoerde. Whenever I got stuck, and I got stuck with the same problem you’re having, my contact walked me through what needed to be done. If necessary, find someone to translate for you.



Thanks that's great advice. I actually found the guy who worked at the Auslaenderamt (the one who answered all my questions about the application) incredibly helpful and patient. He was also coincidentally the person who saw me at the appointment. (I actually got a German native speaker to look at the letter and they were almost as confused as me!)


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

Cuttlefish said:


> Hi Wise ExPatForumites
> 
> I received a letter from the Auslaenderbehoerde saying that my electronic residence permit has been received by them...and then gave a lot of information about the Personalausweisportal website. It included 2 passwords/codes behind foils to rub off. I had a look at the sites and the relevant page on BAMF and also downloaded an App (AusweisApp2).
> 
> ...


What did the person who received your application tell you how you would receive your biometric card?

I`d be surprised if you had anything to do at all at the Personalausweisportal. I have yet to hear of somebody actually using that online function of the national ID card for anything and it`s generally a big flop when it comes to usage and acceptance in the population. 

General advice appears to be to keep those passwords/codes in a safe place for the future, just in case.


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## Cuttlefish (Nov 19, 2016)

ALKB said:


> What did the person who received your application tell you how you would receive your biometric card?
> 
> I`d be surprised if you had anything to do at all at the Personalausweisportal. I have yet to hear of somebody actually using that online function of the national ID card for anything and it`s generally a big flop when it comes to usage and acceptance in the population.
> 
> General advice appears to be to keep those passwords/codes in a safe place for the future, just in case.


When I applied? I was just told that the card would be sent to me; good to know that this isn’t something that’s required: it seems very counter intuitive to send something in advance of having a card that looks like it’s an integral part of the process but isn’t actually that important. Cheers for your response.


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