Hello,

I hope somebody will help me to clarify my rights. I’ve lived in Germany for 3.5 years with restricted Aufenthaltstitel. I worked in Germany and paid Rentenvesicherung for 2 years and 11 months. I am now out of work since December 2011. My restricted permit is valid until May 2013. Am I eligible for unlimited work permit? From my understanding, one can claim unlimited work permit after 2 years of valid employment in Germany, but I am not sure if I am eligible now when I am unemployed. Thanks in advance for your feedback

@creative

Just to clarify one thing, restricted work permit means residence title (Aufenthaltserlaubnis) linked to work permit i.e. §18. Which means company name, location and bla bla on another sticker in your passport. So, now when you don't have a job, isn't it that your residence permit is void?

only in case you have niederlassungserlaubnis you are eligible for perm- residence--

the completion of 2 years is that the aufetnthalstitel not fixed with a company-

Hello, your issue is serious.
After two years, you should have applied for the employment free work permit, unrestricted work permit. Now beacause you paid into the system for a good time, you are eligible to ALG (67%) for a year and after that the Hartz 4 and you will have trouble when eventually renewing your work permit, for after may 2013. If you have a job now, delivering you a work permit won t be an issue at all. The economy is good and Cies are recruiting, just try hard and you will find something
Cheers
Bolo

@friend082

the completion of 2 years is that the aufetnthalstitel not fixed with a company-

But I guess this is only if you go to ABH and explicitly ask for the un-restricted visa. If there is still a sticker stating your company name and duration and location etc then I doubt this will automatically be considered.

Baudouin66:
you are eligible to ALG (67%) for a year

67% only if your last salary was below the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beitragsbemessungsgrenze ), which is upper limit of salary after which social benefit from state is not increased.

If your salary is yearly 67.200 EUR (2012), monthly (5.600 EUR), you get 67% of it brutto, ie. 3752 EUR brutto. After the taxes are also removed you will get around 1800-2000 euro monthly. If your salary is bigger than that you will get the same amount because your salary will exceed the upper limit I mentioned above.

If you are younger than 48 age in Germany, you can get unemployment benefit 1 year. If you had got unemployment benefit within last 4 years, the next unemployment benefit will be 12 monts - (last time ) = x months. For example you were 3 years ago 3 months unemployed, and you got 3 month ALG I. Within next 4 years frame, if you get unemployed again, you will not get max 12 months, instead 9 months. After 4 years of full employed status, your ALG 1 year counter will be resetted.

Search the forums, I remember one case that one person had worked 4 years and 1 year of unemployment benefit and he could get unlimited residence permit. Unfortunately I don't remember which year but it must be a forum thread at least 3-4 years ago.

HTH,
Klenze17