Hi All,

This is a weird question and I didnt know how to search for it on this site, so started a new thread about it. If its a duplicate, please excuse me!

I have been in Germany since May 2001 and am eligible for my NE in May 2006. The NE process has not yet started for me. Now here is my dilemma: I have been asked by my employer to move to another country as part of my next assignment. This move will keep me out of Germany for more than 6 months and I may have to move starting in the next 2-3 months.

The questions I pose to you all are (hopefully you can address/validate my concern):

1. Can I come back to Germany at a later point in time - say 12 months - and "resume" the NE process where I had to leave it?

2. If the answer to (1) is yes, then how is my NE affected if I ever have to go back for an equally long duration (typically more than 6 months)? I am assuming here that the NE is invalidated, but some people have been informed by the ABH officials that one can always come back to Germany and "renew" the NE for a nominal fee (the fee is for the additional administrative work this causes the ABH)

Would be grand if some of you could respond in as knowledgable a way as possible. My initial interactions with the ABH officials have all resulted in tangential answers (coz none of them has faced this situation before and as we all know if its not been done before, then the answer you get from the Beamter is "its impossible")

To me it makes sense that I should be able to come back and take up the process coz all requirements would still have been fulfilled - but I would rather hear from the more experienced and/or the experts!!

many thanks already :-)

best regards,
Ashish

Hi,

"I have been asked by my employer to move to another country as part of my next assignment. This move will keep me out of Germany for more than 6 months..."

Technically ABH is telling you the true. If you leave Germany for more than 6 months (with or without NE), you will lose your work permit (i.e. GC) and the counter for your NE will be reset to zero, even if you get back a work permit.

So, the first advice, considering that the next months are very important for you (to apply and get NE) is that you descard the option to leave the country. Your boss should understand your reasons...

Ok, you want to hear alternatives :-)

Well, if your boss wants that you go out of Germany (it does not matter how long), he should give you tickets, as compensation for moving you away of your location, to come back at least every two months so you can do your personal staff (i.e. your NE application ;-) ) here.

If he does not offer you something like that, it will be unfair (and of course, you simple can't take it, or you will lose your work permit).

In my case, I was sent to Belgium for 3 months (well, at the end it was only 3 weeks, the project was canceled), and my company offered to my tickets to come back every month. And in that way I even did not need to talk with the people of ABH ;-)

Hope it helps,

Alex

hi alex,

thanks for your elaborate reply. it seems like the scenario is not in my favour, but i am sorry to say that i am not convinced somehow!

the catch is my situation is that my employer is a true MNC with HQ outside Europe, so ...

anyways, i agree that the GC is invalid if you stay out for more than 6 months, but the fact that i have paid into the retirement fund for whatever N months that i may have worked here, cannot be negated - else the provision of reclaiming the funds (personal contributions) after 2 yrs, would not have been there in the first place.

any other schools of thought and/or experience please?

Some additional information that came my way from another forum (in response to my questions). i decided to post it here just in case it were to benefit someone else in my kinda situation:

"Most countries have the concept of a Return Residence permit (though called differently at various places) wherein a RP holder can use the duration of his stay outside the country to add up to his days if his application satisfies certain parameters.

Being out of the country due to employment obligations is certainly valid provided the employer is based within the country of PR. So my take is that if you are sent out of Germany by a german employer even beyond a 180 day period you do not loose your NE.

On point 1: If you have a choice try not to stay out of Germany for more than 180 days at a stretch. Also since I have had Groupmembers talking about NE applications being filed even at 4.5 years of stay, try to do the same before you leave."

I dont know in which group you posted your question but the answer you received is not THAT correct. The writer is just guessing what might happen, you can sense it also from his phrases like "Most countries..", "So my take is.."

First of all, in Germany, you need a special permission from ABH before you leave the country for more than 6 months.. you may however have good chances to get this permission because you will leave the country for bussiness purposes. If you dont get this permission from ABH and stay more than 6 months outside of Germany, then your residence permit becomes invalid.. as easy as that.. ABH doesnt care about your reasons etc.. they just want to be informed before your leave and they require that you get their approval for the long stay..(there is also no guarantee that they will approve it.. they may need formal proofs from the employer etc.. )

Filing the NE after 4,5 years is not realistic and you can not just rely on this possibility.. ABH may or may not accept the application.. this is at their discretion and you can not influence it easily. (As you will go to ABH in order to take permission for your long stay, ABH will be aware of your absence and they will hardly accept your early NE application.. )

Regards,

Lacrima

maybe he can get some extension from ABH to stay out of germany for more than 6 months and not to lose visa BUT
BUT IF HE DOES THAT, THAN HE WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO DO 5 Y IN D FOR NE, AGAIN STARTING FROM 0

Hello,

the same situation happened to me. It should not be the problem.
Here what i have.
Before my assignment, i brought a letter from my company saying that i am employed of company X, and has to go to country A for some periods. During this period, my employment to company X will still continue. After the assignment i will return to BRD.

Then ABH will produce a letter saying that i am allowed to stay outside the country until my visa expires (no limit of 6 months).

Before my 5 years limit, i have to return to BRD to get NE. Which means the time to stay outside country will be counted as time for NE. Otherwise the counter starts from zero.

In this case, you can come to BRD for some weeks to apply NE, and after that ABH will produce another letter to explain that you are allowed outside coutry until the assignment finishes.
(it could be maybe up to 2 years).

If you still have questions, let me know.

Thanks a lot guys ... esp to prakesh. the info exchanged has been pretty insightful. i am not sure what i am gonna do, but will keep ya all posted.

in the mean time if there are more opinions, i would be very very interested in hearing about those too !!

Some updates from what I have learnt so far:

Apparently something like this has never been tried before and if it has been it may not have been a GC case (like myself).

But apparently, if the applicant for such a case "ALMOST" completed 60 months of Rente payments, then there may be some considerations which if observed may allow for a question like mine to be addressed. What needs to be taken care of is as follows:

1. MOST IMPORTANT - The social security account should NOT change when the person resume working and living in Germany. This implies that when a NE case is taken up, then the account would show the entire time-sequence of deposits.

2. If the person has stayed out of Germany for more then 2 years, then he/she should not have re-claimed his/her share of the rente deposits. so the account needs to be maintained.

3. The other aspects of the NE requirements still apply as in force by law at that point of time - meaning (a) you should have "continued employability" in Germany (b) German language skills should be acceptable (c) etc. etc. etc.

I am sure some of the lawyers may have a pre-defined process for such cases (which I am not aware of at the time of posting) - but I thought that this information may be of use to people who happen to be in precarious situations like mine ... hence sharing.

If there are any legal experts reading this with a more concrete plan that they could assist with - please feel free to correct and append to what i have posted !!

Cheers :-)