Already in Berlin

Changing your status, losing a job or a training place, and where to get free help.

If you are here and something changed

• Studies finished: § 20 AufenthG gives you up to 18 months to look for a job matching your degree. You may work without restriction during that time.
• Job lost: talk to LEA before your permit expires, not after. Do not let a permit lapse while you decide.
• Training place lost through no fault of your own: up to 6 months to find a new one, see Ausbildung route.
• Switching route – for example from Chancenkarte to a skilled-worker permit, or from a qualification measure to full employment: this is normally done at LEA from inside Germany. Bring the new contract and, where needed, the recognition decision.

Staying long term

• Settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis): § 9 after 5 years; for skilled workers § 18c after 27 months, or 21 months with German at B1.
• Citizenship: § 10 StAG after 5 years. The 3-year fast track was abolished on 30 October 2025. Multiple citizenship has been possible under German law since 2024; whether Indonesia permits it in your case is a question for the Indonesian authorities – Indonesian law is restrictive on dual nationality for adults and we did not verify the current rule.

Free help in Berlin

• Willkommenszentrum Berlin – general orientation, several languages.
• MBE – free advice for adult migrants, nationwide, including in Berlin.
• BEMA (Beratungsstelle für Migration und Gute Arbeit) – free advice on employment rights for migrants in Berlin. Go here if you are paid less than agreed, worked unpaid hours, or your employer holds your papers.
• KBRI Berlin, the Indonesian Embassy – consular help and, as its 2025 warning showed, a point of contact about fraudulent agents. See Indonesian rules.