Self-employed on a visa: what to clarify first.

Who needs no permission.

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland may start a business in Germany like any German citizen. The same applies to holders of a Niederlassungserlaubnissettlement permit: permanent residence. If that is you, your permit is not a topic for the founder route, and you can stop reading here.

Who may need it.

Most other residence permits are issued for a purpose, and employment is the usual one: a work permit tied to a job, or an EU Blue Card. Self-employment is a different purpose. The residence law handles this in § 21 AufenthG. Its paragraph 6 says that a person who already holds a permit for another purpose may be allowed to take up self-employment while keeping that purpose, provided other permissions the activity needs are granted or promised. The German wording is “kann … erlaubt werden”: a decision by the Ausländerbehördethe foreigners' office, not an automatic right.

A full permit for self-employment under paragraph 1 is a separate route with its own criteria, such as an economic interest or regional need, expected positive effects and secured financing. Which of the two applies to you, and what the office in your city expects, is exactly the question for a lawyer.

The two-week rule.

If your permit was issued for work or training, § 82 AufenthG obliges you to tell the Ausländerbehörde within two weeks of learning that your employment ends. The permit does not lapse by itself when the job ends; the office decides what follows, and the notice is your duty either way. Missing it is a separate problem from the business plan, so put the date in your calendar the day you get notice.

Benefit does not depend on your passport.

Arbeitslosengeld is insurance. The agency’s guidance says eligibility depends on contributions, not nationality, and that a permit tied to one employer does not block the benefit. So the question is never “am I allowed to claim”, it is “am I allowed to become self-employed with this permit”. Keep the two apart when you talk to the office and to the agency.

One group this route does not fit: holders of a Chancenkartethe opportunity card for job-seekers from outside the EU. It comes without an insurance entitlement, so there is no benefit for the voucher or the grant to build on.

What to ask the lawyer.

Take these questions to an immigration lawyer, or to the Ausländerbehörde itself. They are the ones the Fit Call cannot answer, and the ones whose answers decide the timing of everything else.

• Can I take up self-employment under my current permit, under § 21(6), and what does the office in my city require for that?
• Does my permit need to change purpose, and would a change restart any waiting periods, for example towards a settlement permit?
• What must I report, by when, and in what form, once my job ends?
• Does a period on Arbeitslosengeld affect my permit or a later extension?
• Can I start the business before the permission is in writing, or only after?

Write the answers down with the date and the name of the person who gave them. In the Fit Call we build the timeline around those answers, not around assumptions.

Where this leaves the founder route.

For most permit holders the route stays open: register on time, ask for the voucher, use the coaching to build the plan, and start only when the office has given permission and the grant is approved. What changes is the order and the lead time. General information, not legal or immigration advice; the decision on your permit belongs to the Ausländerbehörde.