Lost your job in Germany with a work permit pending: what the Fiktionsbescheinigung allows

🇩🇪 DE · permits · 2026-10-24

Translating to Finnish. Showing the English original for now.

If you came to Germany on an Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte), applied for a work permit, and then lost the job while the application was still open, your Fiktionsbescheinigung most likely does not let you take a part-time job somewhere else. It only covers the work it names. You may ask the immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in writing for permission to work elsewhere, and you can look for a new employer and put that new offer into your pending application, but the law gives the office discretion and does not promise a grace period of three or six months. This is general information, not legal advice.

What your Fiktionsbescheinigung actually covers

Section 81(4) of the Residence Act (AufenthG) says that if you apply for an extension or for a different permit before your current one expires, the old permit "gilt ... bis zur Entscheidung der Ausländerbehörde als fortbestehend". In plain English: your old permit counts as continuing from its expiry date until the office decides. Section 81(5) then obliges the office to give you a certificate of this effect, the Fiktionsbescheinigung.

For Opportunity Card holders there is a special rule. Section 20a(5) allows the card to be extended as a follow-up card (Folge-Chancenkarte) if you have a work contract or a binding job offer for qualified work and the Federal Employment Agency (BA) has approved it. Until the office decides on that extension, section 81(4) applies "mit der Maßgabe ..., dass nur die Ausübung der zukünftigen Beschäftigung ... erlaubt ist". Only the future job you applied with is allowed. That is why your certificate names one employer.

If you applied for another permit tied to a job instead, the result is similar. Section 4a(3) says that when a permit was issued for a specific employment, any other work is forbidden "solange und soweit die zuständige Behörde die Ausübung der anderen Erwerbstätigkeit nicht erlaubt hat", as long as the authority has not allowed it.

Can you take a part-time job now?

Not on your current certificate alone. The Opportunity Card itself allows part-time work: section 20a(2) permits employment of on average at most 20 hours a week, plus trial work of up to two weeks each time. But section 20a(5) says this 20-hour rule does not apply to the follow-up card, and during your pending application the law only allows the named future job.

What you can do is ask. Section 4a(3) makes clear that the restriction lasts only as long as the office has not allowed other work, and that changing a restriction in a permit needs permission. A written request to the Ausländerbehörde for permission to take up a specific part-time or full-time job, with the contract attached, is the legal route. The office decides; there is no automatic yes. Do not start the job before you have the permission in writing.

Changing employers on a permit follows the same logic, explained in more detail in changing jobs in Germany on a residence permit.

Who has to report the dismissal, and when

Two duties apply, one for the employer and one for you.

Your employer. Section 4a(5) sentence 3 no. 3 requires anyone who employs a foreign national to tell the Ausländerbehörde "innerhalb von vier Wochen ab Kenntnis" that an employment for which a work permit was issued has ended early. In plain English: within four weeks of learning about it.
You. Section 82(6) requires holders of a residence permit for study or work to tell the Ausländerbehörde "innerhalb von zwei Wochen ab Kenntnis" that the education or employment for which the permit was issued has ended early. That is two weeks from learning about it.

If you have already sent your termination letter to the office by email, you have done the important part. Keep the sent email and any reply.

What the office can do next

Your pending application was built on a job that no longer exists. Section 81(4) keeps your old status only until the office decides, so a decision on that application is what ends the protection. Section 7(2) adds that if an essential condition for a permit has fallen away, the office "kann" (may) shorten the validity of the permit afterwards. Both are decisions the office makes in its discretion. Nothing in the law fixes a waiting period of three or six months for a job search after a dismissal.

What does help is giving the office something to decide on. Section 82(1) obliges you to state your interests and the facts in your favour without delay and to provide proof. A new signed contract or binding offer, sent in as an update to your pending application, gives the office something new to examine, with a new BA approval where the law requires one. Applications, interview invitations and your registration at the employment agency show that you are actively searching.

Your other options under the law

A new Opportunity Card. Section 20a(4) requires that your livelihood is secured. Section 20a(5) also says a new search card can only be issued after you have stayed abroad or lawfully in Germany for at least as long as you previously stayed on a search card. Without savings or a blocked account, this route is closed for now.
The job-seeker permit in section 20. It is not open to everyone. Section 20(1) covers people who finished a degree, research, vocational training or a recognition procedure in Germany, and section 20(2) requires a secured livelihood. Most people who came straight on an Opportunity Card do not fit it.
A new job with a new application. If you find a qualified job, the follow-up card in section 20a(5) or another work permit becomes possible again, with BA approval where the law requires it.

If the office refuses the application, the deadlines for an objection or a lawsuit and what still protects you are covered in what section 81(4) AufenthG protects after a refusal.

What to do in the first week

Register with the employment agency. Section 38(1) of Social Code III (SGB III) requires you to register as a job seeker at least three months before your job ends, or within three days of learning the end date if less time remains.
Write to the Ausländerbehörde. Ask in writing how your application will continue, and for permission to work for a new employer as soon as you have an offer. Keep proof of sending.
Keep a job search file. Dates, employers, roles, replies. It supports what you tell the office under section 82(1).
Check your dismissal. A dismissal during probation still has rules on notice and form, set out in being dismissed during Probezeit in Germany.

Unemployment benefit: a realistic note

Unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld, ALG I) needs a qualifying period. Section 137 SGB III names three conditions: you are unemployed, you have registered as unemployed, and you have completed the qualifying period. Section 142(1) sets that period at at least twelve months of insured employment within the reference period, and section 143(1) makes the reference period 30 months. Two months of work in Germany will usually not be enough on their own.

FAQ

Can I work part-time on a Fiktionsbescheinigung that names one employer?

No, not without written permission. Section 20a(5) only allows the future job named in your application, and section 4a(3) forbids other work until the office allows it.

Does the Opportunity Card 20-hour rule still apply to me?

Not during a follow-up card application. Section 20a(5) states that the 20-hour rule in section 20a(2) does not apply to the follow-up card.

Will the Ausländerbehörde give me three to six months to find a new job?

The law does not set such a period. The office decides your pending application in its discretion, and section 7(2) lets it shorten a permit when an essential condition falls away.

Do I have to tell the office I was dismissed?

Yes. Section 82(6) gives you two weeks from learning of it, and section 4a(5) gives your employer four weeks.

Can I get a new Opportunity Card right away?

Usually not. Section 20a(4) requires a secured livelihood, and section 20a(5) requires a waiting period as long as your earlier stay on a search card.

Will I get unemployment benefit after two months of work?

Usually not. Section 142(1) SGB III requires at least twelve months of insured employment within a 30-month reference period.

How Jobsy fits

We build Jobsy, a job search service for Europe that searches for you: you say what work you want, and Jobsy finds employers and recruitment agencies in Germany, from a base of more than 2.6 million employers and agencies, and prepares personal messages in the recipient's language. It cannot change your permit or speed up the Ausländerbehörde. If you need a new employer fast so that your pending application has something to rest on, the first result is free, and Jobsy Active, which keeps the search going, costs €6.70 a month.

Sources