No Retirement Permit Either
Nothing in the Residence Act is addressed to retired people, and nothing in it turns on age. Germany is the only one of the four European destinations covered here with no route for a person who intends to live on their own money, in retirement or otherwise.
At a glance
- A retirement-specific permit
- None in the Act
- Age
- Not a condition of any title in the Act
- What a pensioner would use instead
- Nothing written for them - see the income record
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Einem Ausländer kann eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung einer selbständigen Tätigkeit erteilt werden, wenn 1. ein wirtschaftliches Interesse oder ein regionales Bedürfnis besteht, 2. die Tätigkeit positive Auswirkungen auf die Wirtschaft erwarten lässt und 3. die Finanzierung der Umsetzung durch Eigenkapital oder durch eine Kreditzusage gesichert ist.»The nearest route, quoted for the same reason as on the income record: it is for a business, not for a pension.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Germany's consolidated federal statute book, served as plain HTML with the whole Act on one page at a stable address built from its Bundesgesetzblatt number. Each Act carries a footer stating the amendment it is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The portal states that the texts are not official and that the Bundesgesetzblatt governs. It is served as ISO-8859-1 with the charset in a meta tag, so a fetch assuming UTF-8 destroys every umlaut. The English translations published alongside are explicitly non-binding and are never quoted here.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The whole answer is on the income record.
Family reunification with an adult child already settled in Germany is governed by other provisions and is not read here.
- consolidatesAufenthaltsgesetz, § 21
Gesetze im Internet, Bundesministerium der Justiz und Bundesamt für Justiz
About this source
Germany's consolidated federal statute book, served as plain HTML with the whole Act on one page at a stable address built from its Bundesgesetzblatt number. Each Act carries a footer stating the amendment it is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The portal states that the texts are not official and that the Bundesgesetzblatt governs. It is served as ISO-8859-1 with the charset in a meta tag, so a fetch assuming UTF-8 destroys every umlaut. The English translations published alongside are explicitly non-binding and are never quoted here.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source