Can my residence permit be taken away from me because of an open case?

Question

A friend of my sent money to my account and after some days I got a letter from the police  accusing me of money laundering which am still fighting the case with them but my question is can my residence permit be taken away from me because of the case, I got the permit because am married to a German ?? please I need some answers

Comments

Hey John! We are very sorry to hear that, we hope very much that the situation is resolved soon and wish you all the best! I will link our Expert:in here @mbeon-Gabriele and @mbeon-Éanna. They may be able to help you with your question. Otherwise, we hope you were able to get legal assistance from a lawyer? Best regards Saskia

Answer 1

Hello, it's me again.

Unfortunately, I could not find out more.
First, the same criminal offense can have very different legal consequences for a foreigner's protection status, right of residence, or toleration. Therefore, it cannot be said in general whether the case has an effect on your status. We recommend that you seek legal advice.

We wish you all the best and hope it can be resolved soon.

Sincerely
Saskia

Answer 2

Hi @John1?,

Firstly, a person cannot lose their residency because there is an open case. Only if the case ends with the person being convicted, can it have consequences for a person’s residency.

Based on your description and my understanding of the residency laws, if convicted of money laundering it is unlikely to have any consequences for your residency. The residency law contains two sections about what happens when someone is convicted. One section is about under which circumstances in particular a convicted person should be refused to stay in Germany. The other section is about what circumstances in particular should be allowed to stay.

The first section lists the kinds of serious criminal offences which would count heavily against someone staying: conviction of two years imprisonment or one year’s imprisonment for certain crimes. It would depend on the sum of money involved, but I can’t imagine any potential conviction for you to be included in these categories.

The other section says it counts heavily in someone’s favour of staying in Germany if they are living with a German spouse. The German authorities will only forcibly separate a German from their non-German spouse if the spouse has been convicted of a very serious crime.

Here are the two sections I am referring to are numbers 54 and 55 of the Residency Act:

https://***.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html#p1121

Please be aware that we cannot offer legal advice here. If your case leads to a conviction and you receive a letter from the Ausländerbehörde about your residency status, then I advise you to seek out legal advice.

Best,

Éanna