Dear Trust7 Members,

I have a EU Blue Card and been working in Germany for over 2 years. My wife is on dependent visa and she is not working.

We are expecting a baby in a couple of months. We have a few queries regarding Elternzeit & Elterngeld:

1. Are blue card holders eligible for Elternzeit & Elterngeld?

2. It says the maximum Elterngeld is 65 percent of Gross but maxumim of 1800 EUR. Is this accurate?

3. It also says Unemployed women are eligible for 300 EUR. Can both of us avail the geld? (1800+300)

4. With the blue card, Permanent Residence is possible after 33 months. Will availing Elterngeld affect this or prolong this?

Since i won't be contributing to Social Insurance during Elternzeit, i read that contribution of 33 months is required for a P.R.

Thank you all very much in advance.

My answer is based on my recent experience on this topic

Answers to your questions, I use the same numbering to map my answers

1-2) Yes

3) There are two models of Elterngeld, one with 14 months and other one with 28 months although the total amount of money you get is same in both cases so it is simply divided to half in 28 months case. I dont know much about 28 months case, here is my answer to 14 months case
a) 14 months have to be shared between you and your dependent spouse (10-4, 12-2, etc most common case is 12-2 where 12 months for non working Parent and 2 months for the working Parent). Always non-working Parent gets 300 Euros per month and Working Parent gets a max of 1800 euros per month during their share of Elternzeit. It means only one Parent gets the Elterngeld (either 300 or 1800) at any time.

4) No

Last one re. SozialInsurance, this is taken care by the Staat during the Elternzeit i.e Staat will pay your SozialInsurance on behalf of you so no gaps are made in the "RenteInfo"