A settlement permit

A settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) lets you live in Germany without a time limit on your residence title. The general route requires 5 years with a residence permit and 60 months of pension contributions. Shorter routes are available for some skilled workers, Blue Card holders and family members of Germans.

In short

• The Niederlassungserlaubnis is not the permanent right EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens get under free movement. If that page covers you, you do not apply for this title in order to stay.
• Under section 9 the general rule is 5 years with an Aufenthaltserlaubnis, secured livelihood, and at least 60 months of pension contributions or comparable payments, plus the other conditions and statutory exceptions in that section. Its illness/disability exception waives secured livelihood and pension conditions when illness or disability prevents you meeting them. Section 9 does not apply while you hold the student permit under section 16b.
• Section 18c is shorter and not interchangeable with that rule. Subsection 1 normally requires 3 years holding a title under section 18a, 18b, 18d, or 18g and 36 months of contributions. A qualification completed in Germany shortens that route to 2 years and 24 months. Each route still has the further conditions that subsection states.
• A Blue Card holder uses section 18c (2): 27 months of qualifying employment and contributions or comparable provision, with simple German, or 21 months if the German is sufficient. The further conditions in that subsection also apply. Ask the authority whether qualifying work under an earlier title counts.
• Family members of Germans should check section 28(2): normally 3 years with a residence permit, continued family life in Germany, no interest in expulsion, and B1 German with the statutory exceptions. This route does not require section 9’s 60 pension-contribution months.
• Your pension insurer certifies your contributions. Ask the Ausländerbehörde about the fee for your title. Extending a temporary permit for several years does not turn it into a settlement permit.

What you need to know

Section 9 describes the settlement permit as a residence title with no time limit. It is different from a temporary permit for work, study or family, and from the permanent right of residence that EU, EEA and Swiss citizens get under free movement. If the free-movement page covers you, you do not need to apply for this title to stay.

The general route under section 9 normally requires that you have held an Aufenthaltserlaubnis for 5 years, that your livelihood is secured, and that you have paid at least 60 months of compulsory or voluntary contributions to the statutory pension, or show comparable payments. Time spent caring for a child or nursing someone at home is counted toward those months.

You also need permission to work if you are an employee, any other licence your work requires, sufficient German, a basic knowledge of the legal and social order and of life in Germany, and enough living space for you and the family who live with you. Public-security grounds can still stand in the way.

Passing the integration course proves the language and the civic knowledge. B1 remains the level behind sufficient German. From 1 November 2026, the Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer meets B1 when Speaking is at B1, at least one of Listening/Reading or Writing is at B1, and the remaining part is at least A2 (section 10 of the Integration Course Test Ordinance, BGBl. 2026 I No. 306).

The language and civic-knowledge requirements are waived if illness or disability makes them impossible; the authority may also waive them to avoid hardship. They are also waived if you can communicate orally in simple German and either had no course entitlement because of a recognisably low need for integration under section 44(3), number 2, or were exempt from the course duty because participation was permanently impossible or unreasonable under section 44a(2), number 3.

Under section 9 (2), sentence 6, the secured-livelihood and pension-contribution or comparable-provision conditions in sentence 1, numbers 2 and 3, are also waived if you cannot meet them because of a physical, mental or psychological illness or disability. The inability to meet those conditions must result from that illness or disability. Ask the Ausländerbehörde what evidence it requires; the remaining conditions under section 9 still need a separate check.

Lawful time spent studying or in vocational training counts at half. Spouses who live together can rely on one spouse’s pension months and work permissions. Section 16b says the general settlement route under section 9 does not apply while you hold a student permit.

Section 18c is shorter. After 3 years on a title under section 18a, 18b, 18d, or 18g, with a job that title allows, 36 months of contributions, sufficient German, and the livelihood, security, work, civic-knowledge, and housing conditions of section 9, the permit is issued without employment-agency approval. A qualification completed in Germany shortens that to 2 years and 24 months.

A Blue Card holder uses section 18c (2): 27 months and simple German, or 21 months if the German is sufficient. Section 2 defines simple German, einfache Kenntnisse, as A1, and sufficient German, ausreichende Kenntnisse, as B1. The Blue Card page states the same clocks. A spouse of a section 18c holder can use section 9 (3a), including 3 years on their own permit and work of at least 20 hours a week.

For the Blue Card route, section 18c (2) requires employment under section 18g and pension contributions or comparable provision for that period. Berlin’s guidance counts qualifying employment under another residence title for this route. For section 18c (1), Berlin also considers qualifying employment while a person continuously held a residence permit, including a family-reunion permit, subject to its stated conditions. This is Berlin’s practice. Ask the authority deciding your application how it treats your earlier periods and what evidence it needs.

If you hold a family permit as the spouse or minor unmarried child of a German, or as the custodial parent of a minor unmarried German child, check section 28(2). As a rule, it provides for settlement after 3 years with a residence permit if family life with the German continues in Germany, there is no interest in expulsion, and you have sufficient German (B1).

The language proof and exceptions in section 9(2), sentences 2 to 5 apply, as do the general grant requirements, including normally secured livelihood under section 5. Section 28(2) does not import section 9’s 60-month pension test or its civic-knowledge and housing tests.

What to do

1. Choose the route that matches your circumstances. The requirements differ for the five-year route under section 9, the 3-year or 2-year route under section 18c (1), the 27- or 21-month route under section 18c (2), and the usual 3-year route for family of Germans under section 28(2). Ask the authority whether your earlier work and residence title count.
2. If your route requires pension contributions, collect the record for the months that subsection requires. The pension insurer, not the Ausländerbehörde, certifies contributions. Comparable foreign or private payments are the alternative the statute allows. This page does not convert them into euros.
3. Prove language and, if your route requires it, civic knowledge at the level that subsection uses. For the Blue Card’s 27-month route that level is simple German. For the general rule and for the 21-month Blue Card route it is sufficient German. Section 17 of the Integration Course Ordinance makes the test Leben in Deutschland, “Living in Germany”, the civic part of the integration-course exam. Passing the course proves both the language and the civic knowledge under section 9.
4. If your route requires housing proof, show that your home is large enough for the family who live with you. Section 9 does not give one national figure in square metres for “sufficient” housing. Ask the Ausländerbehörde deciding your application what evidence and fee apply.
5. Check section 28(2) first if you hold a family permit connected to a German. For other cases outside the skilled-worker, Blue Card and German-qualification routes, section 9 is the general starting point. Highly qualified people have a special case under section 18c (3). Self-employed people have a different one under section 21 (4), after three years of self-employment when that subsection’s conditions are met. They are not the five-year rule under another name.

Before a long stay abroad

The card’s printed expiry date does not settle whether the residence right survives. Under section 51(1), departure for a reason that is not temporary can end a title immediately. A separate ordinary lapse ground is failure to return within six months or an authority-set longer period.

Those rules are not universal. Section 51(10) gives Blue Card holders and specified family permits a twelve-month return period. Certain settlement holders are exempt under section 51(2), subject to its conditions. The EU long-term residence permit has its own lapse grounds in section 51(9); free-movement and protection cases need separate assessment. A short return visit does not reliably resolve a departure that is actually permanent.

Before leaving, tell the Ausländerbehörde your exact title, reason for travel, destination and planned dates. Ask which rules and exceptions apply, whether a longer return period must be set, and whether the office can issue written proof that your title continues. Obtain the relevant decision before departure; a valid card or pending renewal is not enough to rely on. Berlin’s certificate service is a local example and does not guarantee the same result for every title.

Common mistakes

• Treating a temporary permit that has been extended for years as if it were already unlimited. The settlement permit is a new decision.
• Using the Blue Card’s 21-month path with only simple German. Section 18c (2) shortens 27 months to 21 only when the German is sufficient, which section 2 defines as B1.
• Assuming the Meldebescheinigung or a permanent employment contract is the settlement permit. The Ausländerbehörde issues the title.
• Paying a city’s published fee from memory. The amount depends on the status group. Confirm it with the authority that has your file.