Hi
I have been in germany for almost 5 yrs now and earlier the first 18 months i was on a residence permit and a work permit ,by then i was a employee in india but worked in germany on deputation .I got allowances and my company paid taxes ..Now after 18 months of work permit i got a GC .. can i apply for my settlement permit considering those 18 months too or should i have to wait till my GC completes 5 full years

Any idea ?
- Pre

München

if you had AE and no pause longer than 6 months than you can count it.

DVD,

I'm not sure about the 6 months you mentioned. The requirement for NE, besides others, is to have 5 years Aufenthaltserlaubnis. It doesnt say the LAST 5 years.
And I think also this is not a lack of better words because when they really want to mention that they're reffering to the last period they say it so (see the law for examples).

Cheers