Am I eligible to apply for Permanent Residence or German citizenship despite not having held a Duldung.

Question

I have recently received a residence permit according to §19c (2). I would now like to explore the possibility of applying for a Permanent Residence Permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) and later for German citizenship (Einbürgerung). I would appreciate your guidance regarding the eligibility and application procedures.

A brief summary of my situation:

I have been living in Germany with my family since July 2018 (Asylum – Aufenthaltsgestattung).

Daughter was born 2019

I have been working continuously since May 2019.

My wife began her Ausbildung (Berufliche) in 2023

I received my current residence permit in March 2025, under §19c (2).

I have never had a Duldung status.

B1 Certificate, Einbürgerungstest, No criminal record, 70+ Lohnsteuerbescheinigung

I would like to know whether I am eligible to apply for Permanent Residence or German citizenship despite not having held a Duldung.

I would like to receive your professional and valuable advice.

Answer 1

Hi @Arzzu008

Firstly, regarding permanent residency:

The time spent in the asylum process with Aufenthaltsgestattung is only generally counted if you were given a full refugee status (i.e. not the status subsidiary protection). It can also be counted if the application was unsuccessful but only if the person was eventually given a permit for humanitarian reasons. For example, a person had a Duldung after their asylum case and then later received the permit § 25b. It does not apply in your case as § 19c (2) is not a humanitarian permit.

Once you have had the permit § 19c (2) for five years, you will be eligible for permanent residency. The length of time is reduced if a person has a permit for qualified work: § 18a, 18b, 18d or 18g. If you are doing qualified work and change to one of those, then the amount of time is 3 years (reduced to two years if you have completed studies or an Ausbildung in Germany).

As regards citizenship:

Again here the time spent in an asylum process is only counted if a full refugee status was given. So you would be eligible for citizenship after 3 or 5 years with § 19 (c). It is possible after 3 years if you have C1 level of German and show an exceptional level of integration in the areas of qualification, work and/or community engagement. However, please be aware that the new German government is planning to remove this possibility of citizenship after 3 years. As of now, it is something they plan to do and still requires passing a law to do so.

The above refers to the standard type of citizenship, which is according to § 10 of the law on nationality (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz). There is in § 8 also what is called the option of discretionary citizenship (Ermessenseinbürgerung), which has less strict requirements than the standard one. However, the guidelines on how to apply this emphasise that even here the standard requirements should be met if possible. As you meet all the requirements other than length of residency, then you could apply on this basis. I cannot, however, assess how successful such an application would be.

Best,

Éanna