When will I receive the resident permit?

Electronic resident permit card: At your appointment day at the Immigration Office, the resident permit will be ordered, and you will get a confirmation document about the ordering process which you can use as a legal residency proof until your card arrives to you by post or until the Immigration Office invites you to pick it up. It takes around 4-12 weeks until the card arrives.

It is important that your name is on the post box.

The sticker/label in the passport: At your appointment at the Immigration Office, you will receive the resident permit as a label directly into your passport. So, it is directly valid, and the process accomplished.

Please note that in general neither SERS nor you have the choice to decide how the residence permit should be issued by the Immigration Office. The German authorities decide along with their capacities whether the residence permit is issued as a stamp/label into the passport or as card. 

The residence permit card is NOT an ID card, which means that also the card needs to be carried always together with the passport.

Both residence permit types are the same under Immigration Law and contain the same rights and duties.