Planned Reform of the German Residence Act Part 3: Permanent Residency and Family Reunion

To compensate for the skilled labour shortage, the German Parliament passed a new immigration bill that creates and expands immigration pathways for skilled workers from non-EU countries.

Following the first and second installments in this series that focused on employer and employee and student impact, respectively, this third blog will focus on the new developments and changes that are specific to permanent residence permits for foreign nationals as well as important changes to family reunions.

Key changes to permanent residence permits

The changes in the context of applications for permanent residency will relate, in particular, to the length of time an applicant must have resided in Germany based on a specific permit before he or she can apply for a permanent residence permit. These periods will be significantly reduced.

For skilled workers and holders of an EU Blue Card, it will therefore be possible—instead of the usual five years—to apply for a permanent residence permit even earlier. The advantages of the permanent residence permit are apparent: the permanent residence permit is a residence permit with an unlimited validity that is not tied to an employer and allows unrestricted employment.

Change of the temporal requirement for a permanent residence permit application for skilled workers ("Fachkräfte")

With the introduction of the new regulations, it will now be possible for a skilled worker to apply for permanent residency after only three years, provided that he or she has previously held a residence permit for skilled workers for at least three years. According to the present regulations, an application for permanent residence could only be submitted after four years, if he or she had previously held a residence permit for skilled workers for at least four years.

In addition, for an application for permanent residency in the context of skilled workers, in addition to the other requirements, it is still essential to prove one’s language skills on at least a B1 level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Change of the temporal requirement for a permanent residence permit application for holders of an EU Blue Card

As soon as the new regulations come into force, the period after which holders of an EU Blue Card can apply for a permanent residence permit will also change.

With the introduction of the new regulations, the holder of an EU Blue Card shall be granted a permanent residence permit if he or she has been employed in accordance with the EU Blue Card for at least 27 months and has made compulsory or voluntary contributions to the statutory pension insurance scheme for this period or provides evidence of expenses for entitlement to comparable benefits from an insurance or pension institution or an insurance company and the further requirements are met.

Compared to the regulations for the Skilled worker permit, it is possible to obtain a permanent residency for the application within the framework of the EU Blue Card already with language skills level A1. Under the current regulations, such an application can only be made after 33 months; with the introduction of the new regulations, it will therefore be possible to apply for a permanent residence permit six months earlier.

If the holder of an EU Blue Card already demonstrates language skills at level B1, a corresponding application for permanent residency is still possible after 21 months.

Key changes to the family reunion

Significant modifications are introduced within the framework of family reunification. The new regulation is essential and will have a great impact on the migration process for the parents of applicants.

Family reunion of parents of applicants

The parents and parents-in-law of an applicant who is granted an EU Blue Card, an ICT card or a Mobile ICT card or a residence permit for skilled workers or specialists as a manager, executive, company specialist, scientist, visiting scientist, engineer or technician in the research team of a visiting scientist or as a teacher for the first time on or after 1 March 2024, can be granted a residence permit for family reunification. This also applies to the parents of the applicant's spouse if the spouse resides permanently in Germany. The residence permit can only be issued if the parent's livelihood is secured.

Previously, a residence permit for parents could only be considered if exceptional hardship could be proven, which had to be avoided. This was an extremely significant legal hurdle.

With the introduction of the new regulation, this will be significantly facilitated.

After all, with its introduction, joining parents will no longer be subject to exceptional hardship. In fact, it will only be required to prove that the principal applicant will submit an initial application on or after 1 March 2024, for one of the permit types already mentioned, and that the parents' livelihood is permanently secured. The livelihood is considered secure if the applicant can cover it—including sufficient health insurance coverage—without recourse to public funds. The means of subsistence must be guaranteed in the long term—there must be a reliable inflow of funds and it must be possible to forecast this positively.

Permanent residence permit for spouses of holders of a permanent residence permit for skilled workers

Likewise, new regulations have been made for the issuance of a permanent residence permit to spouses of holders of permanent residence permits for skilled workers.

The spouse of a principal who holds a permanent residence permit based on a legal basis for skilled workers is to be granted a permanent residence permit if he or she lives in marital partnership with the principal, has held the residence permit for three years, is gainfully employed for at least 20 hours per week, and meets the further standard requirements for the granting of permanent residence permits.

This new regulation is intended to ensure that spouses are integrated more quickly into Germany and are granted a permanent residence permit to secure sustainable migration to Germany.

Going forward

The implementation of the new regulations for permanent residency and family reunion is intended to ensure that sustainable migration is guaranteed. The inclusion of the family in the entire migration process and the simplification of the time required to obtain a permanent residence permit are intended to ensure that the entire family can integrate into economic and cultural life in Germany in the best possible way and to create long-term prospects for residence.

Need to know more?

Please look out for part four of this blog series coming soon, which will discuss the planned new implementation of the so-called Opportunity Card.

For further information and advice on this topic, please contact Senior Associate Ruben Fiedler at [email protected]. This blog was published on 2 August 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes.

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