On 23rd of March, 2026 I recieved my Deutshland Permanent Residence 🎉
About 6 months back, I started prepping for all the requirements needed for PR. Most of which was Leben in Deutschland exam, passing the A1 German test, 27 months of pension contributions. Rest were mainly documents I already had or would be easy to secure
I started with LiD test, prepped mainly in last 7 days before exam. Got it done through Inlingua
Then came the trickiest and most time and energy taking one, the German A1 exam. I wouldn’t have done it on my own, and so I took help from Radhika. She taught me the basics of A1 focussing on passing the exam
Took classes for a month or so, got the exam slot in Gottingen because Berlin was overbooked
Went to Gottingen, took the exam. I had no idea what I had done in the exam. I messed multiple times in the exam. The result was to come same day at 3pm
I kept checking on the site, even after knowing I didn’t do well, and then I slept
Woke up, checked the result again, and found I got 68/100. 60 was the passing mark! I don’t know how I made it, I would just say I got lucky
And then came Pension contributions certificate. You just need to request it from online, and then they send it to you by post in a week
The issue was my landlord doesn’t let me put my name in the building nameplate. And so every time the post guy came to post the letter, he returned back
It took about a month or so to get it done, and I recieved my pension contributions certificate an hour before I had to leave for a airport for a trip. Nothing short of luck for this to happen honestly
I filed my PR application online on 2nd of Jan, 2026
They usually take a month or so to reply to your email for apppointment, and I wanted to go to India meanwhile. I went to India in the 2nd week of Jan, and while I was in India, on 28th Jan I got an email with apppointment for the application. It was for 5th Feb
I booked the flight immediately to be back in Berlin, attended the appointment on 5th
The folks at the Landesamt office are pretty helpful. It was a straightforward process, where I gave my passport, and couple other documents, nothing extra. They asked for my biometric and done
She gave me the next apppointment for card pickup for 23rd of March. And I just picked up my card on 23rd
The timeline
- 2nd Jan, 2026: Filed PR Application
- 28th Jan, 2026: Got my email for appointment
- 5th Feb, 2026: Appointment for biometric
- 23th March, 2026: Appointment for PR Card pickup
It was mostly straighforward process. If you have the documents in check, the process would be smooth
Now that I have my PR, I can register my own business, be self employed, stay in Germany for as long as I want, even without employment
It’s a huge relief and milestone for me and now I can focus on things I really want to do :)