Skip to content
Bleiben

When can you apply for permanent residency?

Answer five questions to see your likely route to the settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis), your earliest likely application date, and what you still need.

General information, not legal advice. Your Ausländerbehörde decides.

Which residence permit do you have now?
How to answer this

Where to find it

Look at your residence permit card (eAT). An EU Blue Card says „Blaue Karte EU“. For other permits, the legal basis is printed in the remarks („Anmerkungen“) on the card or on its extra sheet („Zusatzblatt“), for example „§ 18a AufenthG“ or „§ 18b AufenthG“ for skilled workers, or „§ 18d AufenthG“ for researchers. Any other permit, for example for family reasons or for studying, counts as “Another residence permit”.

How we use your answer

Your permit decides which routes are open to you. EU Blue Card: the 21- and 27-month Blue Card routes, plus all routes for skilled workers. Skilled worker permit: the 2-year route (with a German degree or training) and the 3-year route. Every permit: the 5-year standard route. If more than one route is open, we show the earliest.

The date your residence permit card (for example the Blue Card) was issued. If you came on a visa first, also answer the next question.

How to answer this

Where to find it

Use the date your current permit card was issued or started. You'll find it in the decision letter from your Ausländerbehörde or on your first card of this type. If you have renewed the same permit, keep the first start date. If you came on a visa first, enter the visa's start date in the next question.

How we use your answer

We add the months your route needs (21, 24, 27, 36 or 60) to this date, or to your visa start if you gave one. That gives the date you meet the time requirement. Example: 15 January 2025 + 21 months = 15 October 2026.

Only if you entered Germany with a national visa (D visa) for the same job, for example a 3-month or 1-year Blue Card visa, before your card was issued. Leave empty otherwise.

How to answer this

Where to find it

The visa is the sticker in your passport (type „D“). Its start date is printed under „VOM“ / „FROM“, next to the end date („BIS“ / „UNTIL“).

Example 1: your Blue Card visa ran for 3 months from 1 March 2025. You applied for the card in time, and it was issued on 1 July 2025, one month after the visa ended. Enter 1 July 2025 as the permit start and 1 March 2025 as the visa start. Example 2: your visa was valid for 1 year from 15 August 2024 and the card came on 15 September 2025. Enter 15 August 2024 as the visa start.

How we use your answer

Time on a national visa counts towards your permit time (§ 6 (3) AufenthG), so we count from the visa start. The waiting time until your card was issued also counts, as long as you applied before the visa ended: your visa then stays valid until the Ausländerbehörde decides, and you usually get a „Fiktionsbescheinigung“ as proof (§ 81 (4) AufenthG). If you applied only after your visa had ended, there may be a gap that doesn't count. The calculator can't see this, so check with your Ausländerbehörde.

Months in which you paid into the German statutory pension (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). Your pension record (Versicherungsverlauf) lists them.

How to answer this

Where to find it

Order your insurance record (Versicherungsverlauf) from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. It's free: you can request it online or by phone, and it comes by post, often within a few weeks. Count the months with compulsory contributions („Pflichtbeiträge“) and any voluntary contributions („freiwillige Beiträge“); both count. You'll need this record for your application anyway. Until it arrives, count the months in which your payslips show a pension contribution („RV-Beitrag“ or „Rentenversicherung“).

How we use your answer

Each route needs a number of contribution months (21, 24, 27, 36 or 60). If you have fewer, we assume you keep paying in every month from today and work out when you will reach the number. Your earliest date is the later of this date and the time-on-permit date.

What is your German level now?

The level on your certificate, or the level you are confident you could pass.

How to answer this

Where to find it

Use the level on your certificate, for example from the Goethe-Institut, telc, ÖSD or the „Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer“ (DTZ). The Ausländerbehörde usually asks for a certificate. If you don't have one yet, choose the level you're confident you could pass in an exam.

How we use your answer

The EU Blue Card routes need A1 (27 months) or B1 (21 months). Every other route needs B1. A2 counts as meeting A1. If your level is below what a route needs, we list the certificate as still missing, and we show how much earlier B1 would let you apply.

Did you study or do vocational training in Germany?
How to answer this

Where to find it

Answer “Yes” if you studied at a German university or did vocational training (Ausbildung) in Germany. The 2-year route needs a finished degree or training; for the 5-year standard route, study time counts even without a degree. For the number of months, use the dates on your enrolment certificates (Immatrikulationsbescheinigung) or your training contract.

How we use your answer

With a German degree or training and a skilled worker or Blue Card permit, the 2-year route opens (24 months as a skilled worker, 24 months of pension contributions, B1). On the 5-year standard route, months of study or training count half: for example, 36 months of study take 18 months off the 60.

On the standard route, study and training time counts half.