Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

I am an Australian citizen who is enrolled at Freie Universität in Berlin to study Law for 5 months during their winter semester (October 2022 - February 2023). I am currently traveling and while I was in Italy unfortunately my Australian passport was lost. This was extremely distressing for me considering all the planning, effort and money I had put in for my 5 month exchange in Berlin to study law. I organized for an emergency passport when I was in Italy. I arrive in Berlin on 23.09.2022 and I have booked an appointment with the Australian embassy in Berlin for the closest business day, 26.09.2022 for a new Australian passport. My flight home is on 25.02.2023

My emergency passport will expire 03.03.2023 (validity of 7 months). My new passport, which I will obtain once it arrives in Berlin, will have a 10-year validity.  I have been informed by the Australian embassy in Berlin that my emergency Australian passport is valid for me to enter Berlin in accordance with the Schengen Agreement. I was told that I am able to enter into Berlin, apply for a new passport and wait for its arrival there.  I have also contacted the German embassy in Australia (Corinna Hell, Vice Consul), who told me the following: 'the Immigration Office should accept your emergency passport if it is an accepted travel document but in order to get clarification on this please contact the Immigration Office'.

I have also consulted https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/prado-recognized-documents.html where it is stated by the Council of the European Union (endorsed by Member States) that in Germany, an Australian emergency passport is a recognized travel document capable of having a VISA endorsed with it. 

Furthermore, I have considered Section 3 of the Residence Act (Passport Requirement) and read it together with Section 5 (General prerequisites for granting residence titles) where it states that one of the prerequisites is the Section 3 Passport Requirement being met. Section 3 states that:

(1) Foreigners may enter or stay in the federal territory only if they possess a recognized and valid passport or passport substitute, unless they are exempt from the passport requirement by virtue of a statutory instrument. For the purpose of residence in the federal territory, possession of a substitute identity document also suffices in order to meet the passport requirement (section 48 (2)). 

(2) In justified individual cases, the Federal Ministry of the Interior or the body designated by it may allow exemptions from the passport requirement for the purpose of crossing the border before the foreigner enters the federal territory, and for a subsequent stay of up to six months.

On the above identified bases, am I able to submit my emergency Australian passport to the immigration office, along with the receipt that I obtain for my Full Australian passport for my residence permit application? I have all documentation including Birth Certificate, an old expired passport and a Citizenship certificate that I can bring to an appointment.

I will be able to obtain a German blocked bank account as soon as I enter Berlin, my appointment at the Bürgeramt is on October 27th, and I have otherwise obtained a certificate of enrolment and proof of insurance. 

My second question is, how is the 90 days in accordance with the Schengen Agreement calculated while I am awaiting an appointment at the Immigration Office? That is, will the calculation of my 90 days resume when a) I get to the appointment or b) once a decision about my VISA is reached?

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Jenny

Thanks for clearing this up.

In regards to the second point, submitting an application presumes that I have attended the appointment. I have 56 days left of the 90 days on the Schengen Visa - what if I am not able to book in an appointment within these 56 days?

This should not be a problem because I can do it via the University, where the University liaises with the Ausländerbehörde for an appointment, but what still what if your days have run out before actually getting to the appointment?

Thanks so much for your guidance!

For the German-Australian Agreement take a look at the website of the german embassy in Australia.
https://australien.diplo.de/au-en/service/01-visa/short-term-visa/2073662#conten
t_1

The German-Australian Agreement in German is available from here:
http://www.westphal-stoppa.de/O-Gesetze/Australien.pdf

Sichtvermerk means visa.

Yes, making everything much more complicated than it needs to be tends to happen to people when they are distressed about losing a passport and needing a visa in a foreign country

Thanks for the links and the help!

This definitely makes things a lot more clear. Thank you so much!

I will send an update on how things work out.