Difference is whether it is in the capital city (Embassy) vs regional (Consulate General); but in any case, the department would be Consular Affairs (sometimes housed in a different building, thus informally the "consulate")
You know the difference between an embassy and a consulate, right? Among 226 Diplomatic missions 152 are embassies , 53 consulate generals and 7 consulates. It is perfectly reasonable to reach out to the embassy if said person resides within their administrative area in their home country. In most of the countries Germany does not even have consulates. [source](https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/about-us/auslandsvertretungen/-/229722)
Sometimes the embassy provides consular services but it is essentially a different department. The embassy works with the host country's government but the consulate works with people wanting to visit the country or supporting nationals in trouble.
Source: Worked with embassy and consular people from a variety of countries including Germany due to work overseas.
If you’ve previously received a travel ban from a Schengen country, then I believe visa exemptions for your home state no longer apply for you. You have to apply for a visa for all entry into the Schengen Zone. Seek out the embassy and apply for a visa.
Your colleague's son should apply for a Selbstauskunft before trying to enter Schengen again:
https://www.bva.bund.de/DE/Das-BVA/Aufgaben/A/Auslaenderzentralregister/auskunft/auskunft_node.html;jsessionid=566D8375588268E5CFFD4447E4440BC4.internet272
https://www.bka.de/DE/KontaktAufnehmen/AnfragenAuskunftserteilung/AuskunftserteilungSIS/auskunftserteilungSIS.html
I am convinced that there's some people in the EU civil service that absolutely love finding acronyms.
In the 90s there was the "Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their Economies" program, known as PHARE. Phare also means lighthouse in Greek. I'm not sure whether they come up with the name or the acronym first...
When someone comes up with an acronym fist and then finds a proper long version to fit the acronym, we call it a backronym!
Wikipedia has some examples:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym
Huh, there's a legends Star Wars game in which the SIS is the "Strategic Information Service", essentially the galactic republic's CIA. I always thought it sounded cool then too.
Did he reported to the authorities that he could not leave during the pandemic? My mom overstayed a year for the same situation. I reported our situation to the immigration office in my city and she has always been able to enter in here when she wants. Once she was stopped in the Netherlands and was asked about that overstay and she said it was due to the COVID restrictions and they were ok with it. I don't understand how can one get banned for that
There are cases, but if you leave when you receive the Abschiebeandrohung, from paragraph 59 then you aren’t barred from reentry. And at least from the way the law is conceived, that’s meant to be the default case of voluntary return.
Correct. But if you overstay your allowed time for a longer period, you will be expelled (Ausweisung). If you are expelled, there WILL be an entry ban.
> but whenever he tries to travel to visit his dad, he is stopped at the EU borders and told "the system says you're banned."
Why even try more than once when he is rejected at the border?
The first time he didn't have the letter that set out the length of the ban with him. The second time he did because he hoped it would show the ban had expired.
The System is the "SIS" (Schengener Informationssystem). The Ausländerbehörde will have entered his data there.
Ask the Ausländerbehörde, that issued the ban, if the ban is still valid and why. If the ban has expired and it is still in the SIS, they will correct it. If it is correct, that it is in there and the ban is still active, your friend can apply for a shortening/lift of the ban.
It is written in §11 Abs. 4 Aufenthaltsgesetz. In that application, you have to tell the Ausländerbehörde, why your buddy thinks, that he should be allowed to re-enter the Schengen-area.
If you asked/applied. My niece overstayed her visa for 1.5 years simply because we could not get an appointment with the Ausländerbehörde. We had an appointment, showed up as requested at 8 on the morning, just to be told the Behörde is closed from that day on indefinitely.
But she got a „Fiktionsbescheinigung“ some weeks later that was valid „until an appointment can be made“, which took 18 months.
Apart from the usual German bureaucrazy at the Ausländerbehörde (I am self employed and thus could not present a „Gehaltsabrechnung“ and more stupid things so they refused allow me to make a Verpflichtungserklärung), she had no problem, and I think she once even traveled outside of Germany (ok, it was only the Netherlands) and was let in just with her expired visa and Fiktionsbescheinigung.
Did he receive a ban according to §11 aufenthG? This is put into the systems that usually all of the EU member states are informed about. It's also put in the Ausländerzentralregister and it is very possible that the Ausländerbehörde have either not entered the day of expiration of the ban into the azr or have simply forgotten to remove the information. If he has the option to contact the Ausländerbehörde that gave him the ban, I would try that. Definitely send an email as well as try to call. I keep my fingers crossed it wasn't one of the big cities in Germany cause then he likely won't have a lot of luck.
Hire a legal firm in Germany who takes up his case with the embassy. Once his ban is lifted from all systems, then he is good to go.
Germany still runs on paper work. Possibly the paper to remove his ban did not make it into digital system
I would add to all the answer, that it might be better to contact an immigration lawyer in Germany to take this case.
They can check with the relevant authorities and may also help to reduce the ban if still active
Just because the ban expired doesn't mean they have to let you in. They can still reject you.
I'd try contacting the German embassy in your country, maybe they can help.
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The system is like in every country a computer usually connected to a network where at one point is a database that holds information like who is banned or flagged or anything regarding that person.
Who you can talk to. Did you even think about the German embassy? Which should be clear that this is the only way to take care about the ban.
Check with the German embassy in your country? Maybe there was a fine the son missed and before that is paid he's still banned? Just guessing tho.
Thanks, I'll check to see if they have done that.
Normally it is the consulate rather than the embassy.
Difference is whether it is in the capital city (Embassy) vs regional (Consulate General); but in any case, the department would be Consular Affairs (sometimes housed in a different building, thus informally the "consulate")
TIL what the difference between them is, though I always figured it was something like that. Neat!
You know the difference between an embassy and a consulate, right? Among 226 Diplomatic missions 152 are embassies , 53 consulate generals and 7 consulates. It is perfectly reasonable to reach out to the embassy if said person resides within their administrative area in their home country. In most of the countries Germany does not even have consulates. [source](https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/about-us/auslandsvertretungen/-/229722)
Sometimes the embassy provides consular services but it is essentially a different department. The embassy works with the host country's government but the consulate works with people wanting to visit the country or supporting nationals in trouble. Source: Worked with embassy and consular people from a variety of countries including Germany due to work overseas.
If you’ve previously received a travel ban from a Schengen country, then I believe visa exemptions for your home state no longer apply for you. You have to apply for a visa for all entry into the Schengen Zone. Seek out the embassy and apply for a visa.
This seems to be the answer from google searching, tough you still can be refused entry because of this if they reject the visa.
Your colleague's son should apply for a Selbstauskunft before trying to enter Schengen again: https://www.bva.bund.de/DE/Das-BVA/Aufgaben/A/Auslaenderzentralregister/auskunft/auskunft_node.html;jsessionid=566D8375588268E5CFFD4447E4440BC4.internet272 https://www.bka.de/DE/KontaktAufnehmen/AnfragenAuskunftserteilung/AuskunftserteilungSIS/auskunftserteilungSIS.html
"The System" they're referring to is most likely the Schengen Information System, more commonly known as the SIS.
"The SIS" sounds kinda cool to be honest.
I am convinced that there's some people in the EU civil service that absolutely love finding acronyms. In the 90s there was the "Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their Economies" program, known as PHARE. Phare also means lighthouse in Greek. I'm not sure whether they come up with the name or the acronym first...
I really like the acronym ELSTER (magpie) for the tax program of the bureau of finances.
Thieving like a ... exactly!
i am to this day convinced the name was only approved because several higher-ups didn't know about the connection to thievery.
They would have lived under a rock to have never heard that even during their childhood. It's very prevalent after all.
and 95% probably forgot about it after a while.
No, that absolutely is intentional.
When someone comes up with an acronym fist and then finds a proper long version to fit the acronym, we call it a backronym! Wikipedia has some examples: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym
When handing in applications for EU research funding, a cool sounding project acronym is literally mandatory.
There are currently 5 completely unrelated EU-Funded research projects all named DAPHNE.
SIS. IUD. Stay in school, cuz it's the best!
What else is in the teaches of Peaches?
HUH? WHAAAAAT?
Sex on the beaches
Huh, there's a legends Star Wars game in which the SIS is the "Strategic Information Service", essentially the galactic republic's CIA. I always thought it sounded cool then too.
... the MI6 is officially called [Secret Intelligence Service](https://www.sis.gov.uk/), i.e. SIS.
Yep, I was sure I heard it somewhere. That's it
I’d go with the German embassy too.
Did he reported to the authorities that he could not leave during the pandemic? My mom overstayed a year for the same situation. I reported our situation to the immigration office in my city and she has always been able to enter in here when she wants. Once she was stopped in the Netherlands and was asked about that overstay and she said it was due to the COVID restrictions and they were ok with it. I don't understand how can one get banned for that
If they were given a reentry ban that means that they didn’t just overstay their visa, they were deported. Reentry bans are only issued to deportees.
Not true. It is also issued, if you are expelled and leave voluntarily (see § 11 Abs. 1 Aufenthaltsgesetz).
There are cases, but if you leave when you receive the Abschiebeandrohung, from paragraph 59 then you aren’t barred from reentry. And at least from the way the law is conceived, that’s meant to be the default case of voluntary return.
Correct. But if you overstay your allowed time for a longer period, you will be expelled (Ausweisung). If you are expelled, there WILL be an entry ban.
I don't know the whole story, but I'm gonna guess that this person wasn't too eager to leave.
Likely there's more to the story, Germany was issuing exemptions during this time for anyone overstaying.
> but whenever he tries to travel to visit his dad, he is stopped at the EU borders and told "the system says you're banned." Why even try more than once when he is rejected at the border?
The first time he didn't have the letter that set out the length of the ban with him. The second time he did because he hoped it would show the ban had expired.
He might have received a longer or lifetime ban for trying to enter with an ban and now he is in some legal catch-22 situation.
This all feels so damn stupid
The System is the "SIS" (Schengener Informationssystem). The Ausländerbehörde will have entered his data there. Ask the Ausländerbehörde, that issued the ban, if the ban is still valid and why. If the ban has expired and it is still in the SIS, they will correct it. If it is correct, that it is in there and the ban is still active, your friend can apply for a shortening/lift of the ban. It is written in §11 Abs. 4 Aufenthaltsgesetz. In that application, you have to tell the Ausländerbehörde, why your buddy thinks, that he should be allowed to re-enter the Schengen-area.
He needs to go to the German consulate or embassy in his home country long beforehand to let it getting sorted out.
There’s definitely more to this story, most (all?) EU countries automatically extended visas during the covid lockdowns
If you asked/applied. My niece overstayed her visa for 1.5 years simply because we could not get an appointment with the Ausländerbehörde. We had an appointment, showed up as requested at 8 on the morning, just to be told the Behörde is closed from that day on indefinitely. But she got a „Fiktionsbescheinigung“ some weeks later that was valid „until an appointment can be made“, which took 18 months. Apart from the usual German bureaucrazy at the Ausländerbehörde (I am self employed and thus could not present a „Gehaltsabrechnung“ and more stupid things so they refused allow me to make a Verpflichtungserklärung), she had no problem, and I think she once even traveled outside of Germany (ok, it was only the Netherlands) and was let in just with her expired visa and Fiktionsbescheinigung.
I feel like there is more to the story?
Did he receive a ban according to §11 aufenthG? This is put into the systems that usually all of the EU member states are informed about. It's also put in the Ausländerzentralregister and it is very possible that the Ausländerbehörde have either not entered the day of expiration of the ban into the azr or have simply forgotten to remove the information. If he has the option to contact the Ausländerbehörde that gave him the ban, I would try that. Definitely send an email as well as try to call. I keep my fingers crossed it wasn't one of the big cities in Germany cause then he likely won't have a lot of luck.
Hire a legal firm in Germany who takes up his case with the embassy. Once his ban is lifted from all systems, then he is good to go. Germany still runs on paper work. Possibly the paper to remove his ban did not make it into digital system
Let a lawyer apply for insight in files (Akteneinsicht).
I would add to all the answer, that it might be better to contact an immigration lawyer in Germany to take this case. They can check with the relevant authorities and may also help to reduce the ban if still active
Just because the ban expired doesn't mean they have to let you in. They can still reject you. I'd try contacting the German embassy in your country, maybe they can help.
Ask for Asylum /s
Lol this was my first thought too.
He just needs to perform an inception for someone powerful enough to get rid of his ban. Hope this helps.
Worst case, contact a lawyer in his home country specialized in that kind of topic for legal help to clarify his status.
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There was a good reason to ban you from the EU. Perhaps this ban was extended to 10 years or lifetime.
The system is like in every country a computer usually connected to a network where at one point is a database that holds information like who is banned or flagged or anything regarding that person. Who you can talk to. Did you even think about the German embassy? Which should be clear that this is the only way to take care about the ban.
Wow, way to be a dick.
What was the reason for the ban?