The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community will not extend the regulation legalising the stay of persons holding an expired Schengen visa who were not able to return to their home countries due to COVID-related international travel restrictions. The regulation will expire on 30 September 2020. This means that Germany will be returning to normal statutory practice, which provides that the criteria for granting residence permits are to be examined on a case-by-case basis. 

The reason for this is that international travel options have significantly improved. According to the information available, no state is currently refusing entry to its own nationals. Therefore, there is no basis for an extension of the regulation. 

In the few cases where holders of expired Schengen visas are still unable to leave Germany due to special circumstances, a satisfactory solution can be found on the basis of existing options provided for by the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz) until the persons concerned are able to leave. 

Background information:

The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community issued an initial ordinance exempting holders of Schengen visas from the requirement to have a residence permit until 30 June 2020 (SchengenVISACOVID-19-V, Federal Gazette of 9 April 2020 — BAnz AT 09.04.2020 V1). Subsequently, a second ordinance was issued, extending this regulation until 30 September 2020 and allowing third country nationals from other Schengen states to transit Germany for the purpose of leaving the Schengen area (Second Schengen-COVID-19 Ordinance, Federal Gazette of 18 June 2020 — BANz AT 18.06.2020 V1). These regulations will no longer be extended.