I have read quite a few other threads before posing the following questions, as I am still rather confused. I have been living in Germany since September 2006, so over 7 years.  I did my Bachelor studies in Germany (2006-2009) and then Masters (2009-2012). While doing Masters, I spent about 7 months in the US working towards my master thesis while still being enrolled at the university in Germany. For the last 17 months, I have had the work search visa, and been interning in a German company for 8 of those 17. I have a new job contract starting 1.02.14. I now have to go to the ausländerbüro to figure out the new visa that is what I require for working full time. Before doing that, I want to be aware of what visas am I eligible for and what would be the best option, NE, bluecard etc. I would be grateful if any information on the same can be provided. Thanks a lot!

bluecard if your salary is more than 44000 euros.

NE : you are not eligible right now.

As far as I know workers usually get either a Blue Card or visa paragraph 18. You are not eligible for NE, but you can be if you work 2-3 years with a Blue Card or with visa p.18. I believe for a Blue Card you need to earn 44,000 a year brutto, but for researchers this can be lowered to something around 36,000. And for either type of visa you may need a permission form Abeitsamt/Zentralearbeitsvermittlung, so that they check whether any other German or EU citizen is available for your position (shouldn't be) and your salary will be on par with a German/EU citizen.

I also don't have very good info, but you can basically ask the ABH about Blue Card, Visa p.18, permission from Arbeitsamt. And definitely mention that you got your degree from Germany. Best of luck to you and congrats on your job offer.