Hi everyone,
I really hope someone who has experience in going through a similar situation can shed some light on the below matter.
So my friend, who’s a non-EU/non-US citizen, came to Germany last year on a language learning Visa (not a study preparation visa) and has been living here since then (having a residence permit for attending a language course). They initially got it for 6 months and it was then extended for another 6 months later (altogether 1 year).
Now my friend has been accepted to a public university to follow a master’s program and they are supposed to start studies in September. However, their current (language learning) visa is not going to expire until November. Now they are a little worried about how the whole thing would play out because they are not sure if they can start their studies with the current language learning visa, or whether they have to apply for a Study Visa before starting the studies.
It might be important to note that the program they will follow at the university is actually fully conducted in English. Therefore, the language learning visa doesn’t have any direct connection/relationship to the studies that they will follow.
We searched the internet and found a few instances ([ref1](https://www.expatrio.com/living-germany/visa-germany/german-visa-language-students), [ref2](https://www.germany-visa.org/student-visa/language-course/)) mentioning that my friend might have to return to their country of origin and apply for a study visa from there.
However, when we checked the legal basis in the [Resident Act](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html), it’s mentioned that”
\- for Language learning course Visa under [Language courses and school attendance](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html#p0346) in **Section 16f**:
“3) As a general rule, while foreigners are residing in Germany to attend a language course under subsection (1) or school under subsection (2), they are to be granted a temporary residence permit for another purpose only if they are legally entitled to it.”
\- the legal basis for a study visa in [Further education](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html#p0275) under **Section 16b** mentions that:
“(1) For the purpose of full-time studies at a state or state-recognised university or a comparable educational institution, a foreigner is granted a temporary residence permit if he or she has been accepted by the educational institution.”
After reading these sections, I feel that since my friend already has an offer from the university, they have already satisfied the legal requirement to get a Student Visa. So it’s unclear for me why they have to leave the country and apply for Student visas again and what prevents them from applying for the visa while residing in the country.
We might be overthinking the whole thing, but I think it is best to be cautious and careful without committing any sort of a crime/violation to end up in a bad place (legally).
I would really appreciate any input in this regard because we failed to find an answer or receive any type of feedback by writing to the authorities.
PS: I’ve posted this also in r/berlin hoping to get an answer. I’ve read the wiki + search history but couldn’t find an exact answer for the above matter. I want to apologize if this information is still available somewhere in this sub and I was too dumb to find it 🙁