My question is what kind of Aufenthaltserlaubnis is given to someone who is doing a PhD. and at the same time has a (part time) work contract with the university as a research assistant (wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter). Should it be ased on paragraph 16 or 18?
It would be great if you share your experience about this.

Thanks.
Sara

Hi Sara,

you can have either §16 or §18, I would strongly recommend to go for §18 i.e. Arbeitserlaubnis as this time will be 100% counted for your Niederlassungserlaubnis (N.E). Offcourse it comes with a prices i.e. no Semester ticket and no student dormitory.

Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S: this is not a legal advice.

I am asking this to help a friend with, I myself have already finished my PhD.

The thing is that they always gave me 16 without giving me an option, and recently I heard for PhD students with work contracts it could also be 18.
I know that if they issued 18 for me, I could have some benefits about Niederlasung as well as Elterngeld (which I was not eligible for because I was on 16). This made me a bit angry today!

Does anyone know if it is in all cases possible to get 18, or maybe if your work contract with the university is half time it is different or something?

Any other experiences?

I know alot of PhDs having half-time contracts, they opted for §18 and are happy today. So precisely, it is possible and their should be no issue at all.

Regards, Raj++

P.S: this is not a legal advice.