I am looking to obtain niederlassungserlaubnis, and in March will have held a residence permit for 3 years.

According to the following website:

https://www.bamf.de/EN/Themen/MigrationAufenthalt/ZuwandererDrittstaaten/Migrathek/Niederlassen/niederlassen-node.html

“Family members of a German national

You will receive your settlement permit if you have held a residence permit for three years, the family unit continues to exist in Germany and you have sufficient knowledge of German”

Here is makes no mention of the pension insurance. When related to family reunion, are there any requirement for contributions to the pension scheme? I ask because we will have fulfilled just less than 3 years of pension contributions when my current residence permit expires.

If anyone is aware of a website with more complete requirements regarding niederlassungserlaubnis via family reunion? I would be happy to read through that myself. I have my “Zertifikat Integrationskurs” so that is not a concern to me.

3 comments

  1. Section 28 (2)

    > As a rule, the foreigner is to be granted a permanent settlement permit if he or she has possessed a temporary residence permit for three years, the family unit with the German continues to exist in the federal territory, there is no public interest in expelling the foreigner and the foreigner has a sufficient command of the German language. **Section 9 (2) sentences 2 to 5 applies accordingly.** In all other cases, the temporary residence permit is extended as long as the family unit continues to exist.

    Emphasis mine. Section 9 (2) sentences 2 to 5 deal with paying pension contributions. So yes, you or your spouse do to fulfil those requirements as well.

    https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html

  2. If you have a look at section 9 (3) AufenthG, it mentions a few exceptions.

    [https://dejure.org/gesetze/AufenthG/9.html](https://dejure.org/gesetze/AufenthG/9.html)

    Note that the English version that u/whiteraven4 linked is outdated, there are several important rule changes.

    Regarding the pension payments, you should know that pension payments tend to be shared among spouses. This is a hold-over from the 1960s model of “one spouse goes to work full-time, the other stays at home”. This is something most folks only encounter during divorce or after the death of a spouse, so I am not surprised you don’t know that.

    In the case of the permanent residency permit, there is the rule that only one spouse needs the 60 months.

    I don’t know what is supposed to happen if neither of you has the 60 months in their pension account. Based upon the second part of section 9 clause (3) I am assuming that there are exceptions, especially if you are studying or doing an apprenticeship or other training.

  3. There is a requirement for pension contributions to get Niederlassungserlaubnis for most people but there is an exception in form of a specific rule just for the Niederlassungserlaubnis for spouses of Germans:

    > §28 Familiennachzug zu Deutschen

    > (2) Dem Ausländer ist in der Regel eine Niederlassungserlaubnis zu erteilen, wenn er drei Jahre im Besitz einer Aufenthaltserlaubnis ist, die familiäre Lebensgemeinschaft mit dem Deutschen im Bundesgebiet fortbesteht, kein Ausweisungsinteresse besteht und er über ausreichende Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache verfügt. § 9 Absatz 2 Satz 2 bis 5 gilt entsprechend

    https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufenthg_2004/__28.html

    This means: There is no requirement for you or your spouse to have ever paid any contributions into the German pension system in order to get the Niederlassungserlaubnis.

    Here are all the requirements for a Niederlassungserlaubnis for spouses of German citizens listed on an official website:
    https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/327012/en/

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