Is the 21 month period calculated from the Blue card application date or the issue date for Niederlassungserlaubnis?

Question

After completion of my masters in Germany, I got a job in June 2018. I applied for a blue card but it took six months for ABH to issue it, so the date on the blue card is from December 2018. But, for the duration of those six months (June 2018 - December 2018) I paid taxes as a full time employee.

Now for the Permanent Residence(Niederlassungserlaubnis)

the requirement is:

21 months with B1 certificate, or 33 months with A1 of German language.

Is the duration is from the day I started working or from the day that is on the blue card? calculated for Permanent Residence(Niederlassungserlaubnis)?

Answer 1

If you have been working legally in Germany, it’s from the time you started working, not from the time the Blue Card was issued.

The OP says:

the ABH gave me zusatzblat (which says that i can work for 160 hours for month) in June 2018

Therefore, the 21 months start on that date.

Answer 2

The time you have worked is what counts, since you were granted permission to work there while the application was being processed.

Officially:

• for each month that a payment has been made to a pension insurance scheme
  • if you start on the 15th, that counts as 1 month

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Section 19a EU Blue Card AufenthG

(6) Holders of an EU Blue Card must be issued a permanent settlement permit, if they have held a position of employment in line with subsection 1 for at least 33 months and have made mandatory or voluntary contributions to the statutory pension insurance scheme for that period, or if they furnish evidence of an entitlement to comparable benefits from an insurance or pension scheme or from an insurance company and if the requirements of Section 9 (2), sentence 1, nos. 2, 4 to 6, 8 and 9 are met and if they have basic German language skills. Section 9 (2) sentences 2 to 6 shall apply accordingly. The period referred to in sentence 1 shall be reduced to 21 months if the foreigner has a sufficient command of the German language.

Answer 3

In such cases, it may also depend on the type of residence permit and job you had before the issue date of the Blue Card. In similar situation, I got an answer from Auslaenderbehoerde that the 21 month can only be counted from the issue date of the Blue Card. On the other hand, I know an example, when a friend of mine got it counted from earlier date.

For example, in Berlin, Auslaenderbehoerde counts all the months when the applicant had a job that satisfied Blue Card requirements, literally "... you must have been in employment for at least 33 months. That employment must meet the requirements for the issue of an EU Blue Card."

Also, if one studied long enough (during the time with residence permit for the purpose of study every 2 years in Germany count as 1) and paid pension insurance, he/she might be eligible for Niederlassungserlaubnis even earlier than after 21 months (5 years living in Germany and paying pension insurance are required to get Niederlassungserlaubnis according to §9 AufenthG or Daueraufenthalt-EU according to §9a AufenthG, which is another regulation applicable). However, usually this is not the case and Blue Card holders get Niederlassungserlaubnnis after 21-33 months according to §19a AufenthG. After that it is still possible to apply for Daueraufenthalt-EU later.