Hi,

I am going to receive my Niederlassungserlaubnis (Permanent Residence Permit) in a week or so (already received the PIN/PUK for the card). Unfortunay, I am also about to lose my job.

I have a few queries :

i)  Will I be able to live in Germany without employement for long?
ii) Do I have any additional protection against job termination?

Answer to the first question depends on how much money you have for your substinance. Otherwise losing job or getting Arbeitslosengeld is not a problem once you have your NE. It doesn't cancel it. Unemployment protection depends on your previous jobs and taxpayer status, it's usually complicated so I don't know if we can answer it here properly.

Hallo Majestic,

pl. check in trust7. there are many topics discussed already i guess.

Also follow the thread:

http://www.trust7.com/forum/-/message_boards/view_message/835680

And it depends on how you lost your job (fired, left on your own or due to companies financial situation).

If the decision is from company side to fire you then you will be supported from arbeitsamt for longer time depending on how many months you hv paid taxes and if you have left on your own then you will supported only for three months  or like that and you hv to depend on your financial savings and start immediately looking for the new job.

I also do not hv much experience on this. Pl. wait for few more feedbacks or you may already find from trust7 other threads.

Goodluck
BR
Basbrem

So from what I understand, as long as I am able to sustain my living here in Germany, I do not have a problem.

I have heard that with normal residence permit, one gets around 3 months of grace period to find another job.

You said in the other thread that you have been working in the same company for at least 2 years so you have right to get unemployment benefit of 1 year, providing that the company terminates your contract (Kündigung) and not through agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag).

You still didn't answer my question: Does your company have a Betriebsrat / Work Council? This is very important and has an impact on your work rights in Germany.

In most cases at private sector in Germany companies give a Aufhebungsvertrag for contract termination. I don't know if other countries have that (maybe Scandinavian countries like Denmark etc). This type of termination is effective only if both sign it. That means, if you don't sign it, you can't be fired. However since the company orally confirmed that they don't want to work with you any more, a Kündigung is expected. Kündigung is decided by employer. The advantage of Kündigung for your side is that you will get unemployment benefit without loss after 1st day of unemployment. Disadvantage is your compensation might be less. Kündigung (one side termination) is usually quite a bit bureaucracy for employers in Germany, that's why they intend to offer an Aufhebungsvertrag.

This means, an offer of termination through Aufhebungsvertrag give you chances for negotation, i.e. when you want or can leave. Since you are waiting for Niederlassungserlaubnis, you can tell them as an excuse or tell them they should employ you until you get it. After that your contract terminated. All these kinds of things can be documented in Aufhebungsvertrag.

If your contract is terminated before Niederlassungserlaubnis, yes, Alien Office might not give you extension of residence permit. Even though you have right to get unemployment benefit for 1 year, you might not get 1 year of time.

Therefore what you can do is following:
- Try to negotiate with the company that they keep you until you get Niederlassungserlaubnis.
- Don't sign anything in the day you receive a paper from your employer.

Last information: after 1 year of unemployment benefit is finished (ALG-I), you will get social benefit (ALG-II) which is much less money.

Try to get Niederlassungserlaubnis at the expense of certain things!