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Hi All,   I currently hold German permenant residency (Niderlassungserlaubnis) and am also currently in the process of applying for the EU Settlement Permit (Erlaubnis zum Daueraufenthalt).   My end goal is to work and retire in the EU, but there is a chance my company will allow me to relocate to the UAE for 2-3 years. I think this would be great for my career given the Middle East's continued expansion. I would live and work in the UAE under a UAE contract and stop making contributions to the German pension, but I would continue to pay my own German health insurance and make trips back to Germany every 5-6 months.   Given my end goal, I obvioulsy do not want to lose my current permit and it would also be nice to have the flexibility of the EU permit, which is why I submitted the application. However, I have been reading on these forms and found that my current permit might be better if I want to temporarily leave Germany since the EU permit is issued under a different directives and thus might be a different procedure for obtaining permission to leave Germany for a period of time.   My understanding is that if I want to live and work outside of Germany while retaining my residence permit, I could inform the immigration authorities and MAYBE they will grant me special permissions for this purpose. It's not clear if they could also do the same once I switched to the DA-EG...   Does anyone know the best course of action here? Should I: A) Stop the DA-EG application, keep my NE, and apply for special permission to work outside of Germany B) Obtain the DA-EG and then ask for special permission to work outside of Germany C) Just email the immigration office and ask them what is best     - The only reason I have not done this is because I am afraid of slowing down my current application process for the DA-EG which I know can take a long time, at least here in Berlin. Maybe asking the question could also influence their decison of wheather I am granted the DA-EG...you never know and I get OCD about these things     If I go with option A, will I still maintain my eligibility for the DA-EG upon returning to live / work in Germany? I have already paid the required 5 years into the pension and could get 6 months of pay slips after my company transfers me back, but not sure if the gap will have any impact on reapplying for the DA-EG...   Any answers or helpful info is much appreciated even if you cannot answer everything.   Thanks in advance!!