German Citizenship by Naturalization

Naturalization is the process by which a foreign national becomes a German citizen by application, rather than acquiring citizenship automatically. Under the German Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG), citizenship is acquired automatically mainly through descent from a German parent. In some cases it is also acquired through birth in Germany to foreign parents who have lived here long enough. Anyone outside these groups needs to naturalize, which is one of several routes to German citizenship.

Applications are decided by the naturalization authority for the place where you live, not by a single federal office. As a result, procedures, waiting times, and document requests vary considerably from one city or district to the next.

EU citizens also need to naturalize. Free movement rights allow you to live and work in Germany, but they do not make you a German citizen. They also do not give you the right to vote in federal and state elections or entitle you to a German passport. Time spent living in Germany under free movement counts toward the residence requirement for naturalization.

Most applicants naturalize after five years of residence under the standard route, but spouses of German nationals, family members, and some people living abroad have their own options. The table below compares the main routes.

Germany no longer requires you to give up your existing citizenship when you naturalize. Whether you actually keep it, however, depends on the law of your home country, not on German law.

Since June 27, 2024, dual and multiple citizenship have been generally accepted in German naturalization. Some countries still withdraw citizenship automatically when a national voluntarily acquires another one. Others allow you to keep it only if you obtain permission before you naturalize. If your home country falls into either group, you need to deal with this before your German naturalization is completed, because afterward it may be too late.

At Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, our citizenship lawyers can assess how naturalization interacts with your home country’s rules. Where foreign law needs to be confirmed, we work with partner firms abroad.

You are entitled to German citizenship under Section 10 StAG if you have lived lawfully in Germany for five years and meet the requirements below. “Entitled” means the authority must grant your application if every requirement is met, without any discretion to refuse.

The requirements are:

• your identity and nationality have been established
• you have a qualifying residence status
• you can support yourself and your dependent family members without receiving citizen’s income (Bürgergeld) or social assistance
• you have no criminal convictions, apart from minor ones the law disregards
• you speak German at level B1
• you have knowledge of the German legal and social order, usually shown by passing the naturalization test
• you commit to the free democratic basic order (freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung), meaning the core principles of Germany’s democratic constitution, and to Germany’s historical responsibility for National Socialism and its consequences, in particular the protection of Jewish life. You also commit to peaceful coexistence between nations and to the prohibition of wars of aggression.

Naturalization is also excluded if you are married to more than one person at the same time, or if your conduct shows disregard for the equality of men and women guaranteed by the Basic Law (Grundgesetz).

You need a residence status that is permanent or can lead to permanent residence. That means one of the following:

• a permanent residence permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis)
• an EU long-term residence permit
• an EU Blue Card
• a permanent right of residence as an EU or Swiss citizen
• a residence permit issued for a purpose that can lead to permanent residence

Permits for study, vocational training, job seeking, and several humanitarian purposes do not qualify on their own, although time spent on them may still count toward your five years. Periods on a Fiktionsbescheinigung (provisional residence certificate) can also raise questions, so it is worth confirming how they count before you apply.

Usually not. You must be able to support yourself and your family without citizen’s income or social assistance, and only narrow exceptions apply.

Receiving these benefits does not bar naturalization if one of the following applies:

• you are working full-time and have done so for at least 20 of the last 24 months
• you live with a spouse or partner who meets that test and with a minor child
• you belong to the guest worker generation, meaning you came to Germany under a recruitment agreement by June 30, 1974 (or as a contract worker in East Germany by June 13, 1990), or joined such a worker as their spouse, and you are not responsible for needing the benefits

Only convictions above a statutory threshold count against you. Minor convictions are disregarded under Section 12a StAG. These are fines of up to 90 daily rates and suspended prison sentences of up to three months, once the probation period has ended.

Several minor convictions are added together, and if the total only slightly exceeds the threshold, the authority decides case by case. The threshold never applies where a court found that an offense was motivated by antisemitism, racism, or other hate-based motives.

Convictions abroad must be declared in your application and generally count too, provided the offense would also be a crime in Germany and the proceedings met rule-of-law standards. If you are under criminal investigation, the authority will put its decision on hold until the proceedings end. Our citizenship lawyers work alongside our criminal defense team where a pending case puts naturalization at risk.

Your identity and nationality must be established before you can naturalize, which usually means presenting a valid passport. If you cannot obtain one, for example as a refugee or stateless person, authorities can accept other forms of evidence in some cases. What counts depends on your situation, and our citizenship lawyers advise on what an authority is likely to accept.

Trips abroad of up to six months do not interrupt your residence in Germany for naturalization purposes. Longer absences are also fine if you return within a deadline set by the foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde) before you leave. As a rule, however, your residence no longer counts as continuous once your time abroad adds up to more than half of the required residence period.

If your residence was interrupted, up to three years of your earlier residence in Germany can still count toward the requirement. A gap in lawful residence caused only by applying late for your first residence permit or a renewal is disregarded. Gaps for other reasons are treated like an interruption. EU citizens and their family members are subject to the rules of the Freedom of Movement Act/EU (FreizügG/EU) instead.

Whether a particular absence or gap counts is often decisive. If you have spent long periods outside Germany, or there was a gap between permits, have your residence history checked before you apply.

No. The option to naturalize after three years for exceptional integration was abolished with effect from October 30, 2025. Five years of lawful residence is now the minimum for most applicants. Spouses of German nationals and family members naturalizing together with you are the main exceptions, covered below. If you applied under the old fast track, speak to us about how your application is affected.

Whichever route applies to you, language skills and knowledge of German society are usually part of it.

You need German at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and you usually need to pass the naturalization test (Einbürgerungstest). B1 means you can handle everyday situations, work, and dealings with authorities in German with reasonable independence.

You can usually prove B1 with a recognized language certificate. Authorities also generally accept the following as proof:

• four years at a German-speaking school
• a German school-leaving qualification
• completed German-language vocational training
• a degree from a German-speaking university

Check what your authority accepts before booking an exam.

Children, the guest worker generation, and people who cannot reach B1 for reasons outside their control can be partly or fully exempt. The main exceptions are:

• Children under 16 only need age-appropriate German.
• The guest worker generation only needs to be able to communicate orally in everyday life, and is exempt from the naturalization test.
• Applicants who cannot reach B1 despite serious and sustained efforts can have the requirement reduced to oral communication under the hardship rule in Section 10(4a) StAG. The test is then also waived.
• Both requirements are waived if illness, disability, or age makes them impossible to meet.

The naturalization test is a multiple-choice test on German law, society, and history, set by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). It is taken at approved test centers, often local adult education centers (Volkshochschulen). Preparation courses exist but are not compulsory. Certain German school or university qualifications can replace the test.

The same requirements apply to family members, with some important concessions.

If you naturalize, your spouse or registered partner and your minor children can usually be naturalized at the same time, even if they have not yet lived in Germany for five years. Spouses of German nationals have their own route, which requires only three years of residence.

Family members naturalizing with you. Under Section 10(2) StAG, your spouse or registered partner and your minor children can be included in your application without meeting the five-year residence period themselves. They must meet the other requirements, although children under 16 only need age-appropriate German. Including the whole family in one application is usually simpler than applying separately later.

Spouses and partners of German nationals. Under Section 9 StAG, you should be naturalized after three years of lawful residence in Germany once your marriage or registered partnership has lasted at least two years. “Should” means the authority grants the application as a rule and may refuse only in an atypical case. All other requirements of Section 10 StAG still apply, including B1 German and the naturalization test. Your minor children can be naturalized with you, and the three-year period can be shortened in the public interest once the marriage has lasted three years.

This route also remains open for one year after your German spouse dies or the marriage ends in divorce. The condition is that you have custody of, and live with, a minor child from the marriage who is already German.

Children born in Germany. A child born in Germany to foreign parents becomes German automatically at birth if one parent has lived lawfully in Germany for five years and holds a permanent right of residence. These children do not need to naturalize at all.

If you do not meet every requirement for an entitlement, the authority can still naturalize you at its discretion under Section 8 StAG. Unlike a Section 10 application, approval is not guaranteed. The authority looks at your circumstances as a whole, including how well you are integrated.

The statutory requirements are:

• lawful residence in Germany
• established identity and nationality
• no relevant criminal convictions
• your own home or accommodation
• the ability to support yourself and your family

The authority can waive the conviction and livelihood requirements in the public interest or to avoid particular hardship.

Discretionary naturalization is relevant where, for example, your residence permit is not of a qualifying type for Section 10, or where you fall short on one requirement for reasons outside your control. Because the outcome depends on how the authority exercises its discretion, it is worth presenting the strongest possible case from the outset. Our citizenship lawyers advise on whether a discretionary application has realistic prospects and how to build it.

You can only apply for German citizenship from outside Germany in limited cases. The two routes are for former German citizens and for people with strong ties to Germany. Applications from abroad are usually handled by the Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt, BVA) in Cologne rather than a local authority.

Former Germans. Former German citizens and their minor children living abroad can be naturalized under Section 13 StAG if their identity and nationality are established and they have no relevant criminal convictions.

Strong ties to Germany. Other foreign nationals living abroad can be naturalized under Section 14 StAG if they meet the requirements of Section 8 StAG and have ties to Germany strong enough to justify naturalization. Spouses of German nationals can also be naturalized this way where one of them lives abroad in the public interest, for example on a diplomatic or official posting.

Descendants of people persecuted under National Socialism. These descendants are in a different position. They may have a legal right to German citizenship through restoration rather than naturalization, with no requirement to live in Germany.

Children and descendants of German mothers. Some people can become German by a simple declaration under Section 5 StAG instead of naturalizing. This applies to people born after the Basic Law came into force in May 1949 who could not acquire German citizenship at birth because of the gender-based rules in nationality law at the time. Typical examples are cases where only the father could pass citizenship on, or where the mother lost her citizenship by marrying a foreign national. It also applies to their descendants. No residence in Germany or German language skills are required, but the declaration must be made by August 2031.

Many delays and rejections trace back to problems that can be identified before you apply.

One common problem is timing. Applicants sometimes apply while still on a permit that does not qualify, such as a student permit, or before a gap between two permits has been dealt with. Others apply while receiving benefits without meeting one of the exceptions, or without realizing that convictions abroad have to be declared.

Documents are another frequent source of delay. Birth and marriage certificates issued abroad often need a sworn translation and an apostille or legalization, and an authority can put an application on hold until everything is in order. Some applicants also discover only late in the process that their home country will withdraw their citizenship when they become German.

Our citizenship lawyers review your residence history, documents, and circumstances before you apply, so these issues can be resolved in advance rather than after months of waiting.

You apply to the naturalization authority for the place where you live, submit your documents, and wait while the authority runs background checks. You become a German citizen on the day your naturalization certificate is handed to you, not when the application is approved.

1. Get initial advice and apply. Some authorities offer or require an initial consultation, and many now accept applications online. You can apply in your own name from the age of 16. A fee is charged for each applicant, with a reduced fee for children naturalized together with a parent.
2. Gather your documents. You will typically need your passport, your residence permit, proof of income, your B1 certificate, your naturalization test certificate, and documents such as your birth and marriage certificates. Foreign documents often need an official translation by a sworn translator, and sometimes an apostille or legalization. Gathering these from abroad can take months, so start early.
3. Wait for background checks. The authority verifies your information with other authorities, including the Federal Central Criminal Register, the police, and Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz). This stage is often where applications slow down.
4. Receive your naturalization certificate. If your application is approved, you sign a solemn declaration that you will respect the Basic Law and the laws of Germany. You then receive your naturalization certificate (Einbürgerungsurkunde), often at a public naturalization ceremony. Keep your residence permit valid until that day. After the handover, you can apply for a German ID card and passport.

Make sure every document and statement in your application is accurate. Under Section 35 StAG, a naturalization obtained through deliberate deception or false information, such as a fake language certificate, can be revoked retroactively for up to ten years. This applies as a rule even if it leaves you stateless.

If the naturalization authority fails to decide your application within a reasonable time and has no sufficient reason for the delay, you can bring an action for failure to act (Untätigkeitsklage) at the administrative court under Section 75 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (VwGO). You can usually sue once three months have passed since you applied. If your application is rejected, you can challenge the decision, but the deadline is usually only one month.

Waiting times of a year or more are common at many naturalization authorities, and a heavy workload alone does not always justify a delay. If the court finds the authority does have a sufficient reason, it sets a deadline for the decision rather than dismissing the case. In practice, an action for failure to act often prompts the authority to decide. At Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, our administrative lawyers assess whether the delay in your case is unreasonable and, where it is, take it to court.

Depending on the federal state, a rejection is challenged either by an objection (Widerspruch) to the authority or directly by a lawsuit at the administrative court. Either way, act quickly. The deadline usually runs from the date you receive the decision, and missing it generally makes the rejection final.

German citizenship gives you full political rights in Germany and the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, and it removes the need for a residence permit for good.

In particular, German citizens:

• can vote and stand for election at every level, including federal and state elections
• can live, work, and study in any EU member state without a permit
• hold one of the world’s most widely accepted passports for visa-free travel
• no longer have to renew residence permits, and cannot be expelled from Germany
• generally pass German citizenship on to their children

Whether you are about to apply, are waiting for a decision, or have received a rejection, an early review of your case can save months. At Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, our citizenship lawyers check your eligibility, prepare your application, and deal with the naturalization authority on your behalf. We advise in English, work with clients all over the world, and handle most cases fully remotely. All communication is confidential, and we explain the expected costs before any work begins. Contact us to have your situation reviewed by a lawyer.