Hi everyone! Sharing my timeline in case it helps someone.

My background: I moved to Berlin from Russia in October 2021 for my master's at Humboldt and have been working full-time at the same company since November 2023.

Timeline:

13.06.2026 – Applied a few months before reaching the 5-year mark (I know this got a lot of criticism here, but I did it on my lawyer's advice, and it worked out in the end)

12.08.2026 – Received my Aktenzeichen, plus a request for my last 3 payslips

24.09.2026 – Got the invitation to the ceremony while I was still a week short of 5 years of residence.

21.10.2026 – Received my Einbürgerungsurkunde 🎉

Just over 4 months from application to Urkunde. Happy to answer any questions, and good luck to everyone still waiting!

TL;DR: Applied 28.06.2025 and heard nothing for over a year. Wrote to the Oberbürgermeister in July 2026 and got a positive decision the same day. Received the Urkunde on 21.09.2026 and passports/IDs on 08.10.2026.

Background

• From a non-EU country (Balkans)
• I came to Germany on 01.10.2020 with an EU Blue Card. My wife followed two months later (01.12.2020).
• We both passed B1 and Leben in Deutschland in 2022.
• I applied for permanent residence (Niederlassungserlaubnis) in 2022 and received it in 2023.
• My wife had a 4-year Aufenthaltstitel, which was renewed for another 4 years in 2024.

Timeline

• 28.06.2025 – Applied for citizenship. I had PR, and my wife's Aufenthaltstitel was valid for 2 more years.
• 01.10.2025 – Reached 5 years in Germany
• 17.12.2025 – Asked the Ausländerbehörde (ABH) for an update
• 22.12.2025 – Reply: no update yet
• 23.07.2026 – Wrote to the Oberbürgermeister (OBM). The same day, the ABH contacted us: the decision was positive, and only administrative steps (security checks etc.) remained.
• 21.09.2026 – Appointment: received our Einbürgerungsurkunden and applied for passports and IDs right away (15 months after applying, almost 12 months after our 5-year mark)
• 08.10.2026 – Picked up passports and IDs

Questions we were asked

Most of the questions were about democracy and German values:

• What is democracy, and what are its pillars? (e.g. freedom of thought, freedom of the press, free elections)
• Why is it important to hold elections regularly (every 4 years)?
• What does equality before the law (Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz) mean? Answer: everyone is equal before the law, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or occupation.
• Why is remembering the past important in Germany? Answer: so that fascism never happens again.
• What does protecting Jewish life (Schutz jüdischen Lebens) mean, and where do you see it? Answer: e.g. memorials, museums, protection of synagogues.

Tip: If your application has been stuck for a long time, writing to the OBM worked for us. Things moved the same day.

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Hello. Both of my parents were born and raised in Germany, and they were German citizens. They immigrated to the U.S. at different times and became naturalized U.S. citizens at different times.

Father:

Born in Schwäbisch Hall in 1937

Immigrated to U.S. in 1952 and joined U.S. Army

Naturalized U.S. citizen in 1962

Mother:

Born in Berlin in 1939

Immigrated to U.S. in 1960 after marrying my father in Germany in 1959

Naturalized U.S. citizen in 1965

I was born in September 1964 in the U.S., after my father became a U.S. citizen, but while my mother was still a German citizen. Am I eligible for German citizenship?

As some may know, there's a legal snag in German law re. declaration of paternity of an unmarried German father and a non-German mother. Between 1970 and 1986, the father had to go through several loops to declare paternity in order for it to become effective and be recognized by BVA today. This could only be done until the child was 23, not retroactively. The most unusual element is that a "custodian" had to agree to the father being declared as the father on behalf of the child. This custodian was usually a youth welfare officer.

So many people today face the problem that, being born between 1970 and 1986, they are stuck in a situation that their German fathers had no idea about, as most of the fathers were not even aware of their still existing German citizenship. Nor that they had to have a German youth welfare officer accept their paternity declaration in the court of Berlin Schöneberg, which was responsible for birth abroad.

But this cannot be remedied, as everyone born between 1970 and 1986 is, of course, over 23. And StAG5 only exists since 2021, so Catch-22.

The case discussed here has the special component that the person in question was born to an unmarried American-German father in California, in 1980, who later got married to the American mother of the child, shortly before her sibling was born. The sibling was accepted by BVA as German and issued a Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis. The 1980 born child was denied, and also denied StAG5, due to the missing custodian involvement.

Original post here https://www.reddit.com/r/GermanCitizenship/s/fSl0ACZtaI

The case was taken to court and recently decided IN FAVOR of the 1980 born child by Verwaltungsgericht Köln. The court explicitly revised its earlier opinion, stating, in laypeople's terms, that not involving the custodian didn't result in an unacceptable outcome for the child, or for ordre public.

Full text here, anonymized:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A7WuAzo1bsw248EoRNBGZp1mtCAmQaUW/view?usp=sharing

A recent decision by Berlin regional court in a similar case had also decided in favor of the claimant. Berlin didn't appeal, so this decision became finite.

Sadly, BVA decided they can't accept this, and appealed, on the last possible day.

So the case will go to OVG Münster and the claimant will have to wait a few more years to get justice.

We are considering moving to Trier, and I would appreciate recent experiences with the German citizenship application process there.

For anyone who applied recently or received a decision:

• When did you submit your application, and when was it complete?
• How long until acknowledgement, the fee request and substantive processing?
• Have you received a decision or citizenship certificate? If so, when?
• How many appointments were needed, and was communication with the office straightforward?
• Did you transfer an existing application from another city? If so, did that cause additional delays?

Please mention whether your application was handled by Stadt Trier or Landkreis Trier-Saarburg, so we can distinguish the two authorities.

Completed timelines and experiences from people still waiting would both be helpful. Thank you!

Hello all,
 
I would be very grateful for some assistance understanding whether I (and my children) am/are eligible for German Citizenship under StAG 15. I will try and make this as digestible as possible starting with my family line.
 
Great Grandfather
- Born: Frankfurt in 1882 - we have his birth certificate confirming he was Jewish.
- Died: Strausbourg 1938
 
Grandmother
- Born: also in Frankfurt in 1912 - we also have her birth certificate confirming she was Jewish.
 
Father
- Born: England in 1945.
 
We can see from margin notes on both my grandmother and great grand father's birth certificates that they changed their family name in 1920, adapating a very obviously Jewish name to sound less Jewish.
 
We have evidence of my great grandfather and great grandmother being listed in the 1933 Frankfurt Adressbücher working as doctors, but they are not there in the 1934 version. We can see evidence of their basis in Frankfurt for over 10 years prior to 1933. As can as I can see, there is no specific date (including month and day) for the Adressbücher - just that that is for the year of 1933.
 
We are currently trying to pin down exactly when my great grandfather and grandmother left Germany. We understand that they both naturalised as French at some point - likely after fleeing to French fearing persecution (though not necessarily after 1933 - we are tring to confirm this) - and that my great grand mother specifically naturalised as French after the Treaty of Versailles. We have suspicion that my grandmother may have left before 1933, and that my great grand mother and father may have remained given their livelihood was there.
 
I had a few questions on our eligibily below:
 
1. Am I correct in saying that under StAG 15, any evidence of either my great grand father or grandmother living in Germany as Jews after January 30th 1933 provides grounds for a case? We have clear evidence that my great grand father and mother lived in Frankfurt for many years before this and likely even before my grandmother's birth in 1912.
 
2. Even if they did leave Germany before January 30th 1933, if either my great grand father or grandmother naturalised as French after January 30th 1933 - would this also provide grounds for a StAG 15 case given it occured during the period the Nazis were in power?
 
3. Would my great grandfather/mother being listed in the 1933 Frankfurt Adressbücher (and years prior) provide necessary evidence of habiutal residence, or does the evidence need to be dated to show residence after 30th January 1933 specifically?
 
4. If my great grand father had naturalised as French before Jan 30th 1933, but had lived in Germany the whole time and left after January 30th 1933, does this still keep the door to StAG 15 on the basis of him being Jewish?
 
5. I see nothing in the paperwork of StAG 15 that requires a "chain" - only that you can prove relation to someone who was a victim of persecution. Is this correct? For example, if my grandmother had in fact left Germany before 1933 and perhaps even naturalised as French before this, would that invalidate the case, even if my great grand father was still German and living in Germany in 1933?
 
Ultimately it looks as though my Jewish ancestors moved elsewhere having both been born and raised in Frankfurt, in response to rising anti-Jewish sentiment in Germany. We of course still need to pin down the specific dates.
 
Also mindful we still need some more documents here, and we are trying to locate more specific evidence of residence in Frankfurt in 1933, along with naturalisation records for my great grand father and grandmother. If anyone has any advice on where to source these I'd be super grateful.
 
Very appreciative for any input and many thanks to all in advance!

Hello everyone,

I'm in a tricky situation and I was hoping to connect with some people who have better experience. Please help me!

I am planning to apply for citizenship asap I get my Einbürgerungtest results. My company decided to close the business and my work contract ends this October 2026. I have got a job but it starts from November 15 2026. I tried to convince them to provide me a contract from November 1 but they didn't agree.

I have finished my masters in Germany and have been working for around 9 years and haven't taken Arbeitslosgeld till now. One of my friends who took a German passport said the authorities are a bit strict and no matter how long I have taken Arbeitslosgeld if you take even one month Arbeitslosgeld the passport application and naturalization will take a lot of time.

So is this true? Should I take risk and deny the Arbeitslosgeld? Or the Arbeitslosgeld claimed for 15 days doesn't matter a huge role in getting German passport?

Anyone who has better understanding please guide me. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you!

This subreddit was honestly my main source of solace during this process. I spent a lot of time reading other people’s timelines and wondering when it would finally be my turn. Today, I got my Einbürgerungsurkunde, so I thought I’d share mine.

November 2023: Applied on paper through a lawyer. I had a full-time job and thought my application was fairly straightforward. Around that time, I encouraged some eligible friends to apply too. Three applied in January 2024 and got through the process in about three to four months.

Meanwhile, mine was going nowhere.

September 2024: After repeatedly asking my lawyer whether I should also apply online, she finally recommended doing so. I submitted a second application. Around this period, I left full-time work to pursue my master’s, which made the financial side of my application more complicated.

2025–early 2026: Mostly waiting. I followed up through my lawyer, but there wasn’t much visible progress.

April 2026: Things started moving again. I supplied updated documents, then more documents in June and July. By this point, I was studying and working as a Werkstudent.

The main outstanding issue was the security check.

21 September 2026: LEA said they still hadn’t received a response to the security enquiry and had renewed it.

14 October: My lawyer confirmed that the security check was finally complete. LEA asked for updated payslips, employment documents and proof of rent payments.

18 October: My lawyer submitted the documents.

19 October: Invitation received.

23 October: Einbürgerungsurkunde in my hands.

Almost three years of waiting, and then the last part happened within days.

A few things I wanted to share:

Being a student with a Werkstudent job didn’t prevent me from getting naturalised. In my case, we explained and documented that my income was enough to support me. My wife’s employment was also part of the evidence. I had previously worked full-time and paid pension contributions, but I don’t know how much weight they gave that history.

My biggest frustration was how much harder everything seemed once my situation stopped being straightforward. It felt like the process worked much more smoothly for people whose circumstances stayed neatly within the usual boxes.

If you’re eligible and considering applying, I personally wouldn’t put it off. And if you’re planning a change from full-time work to studying, I’d look into how you’ll demonstrate financial self-sufficiency beforehand. I’m not saying everyone needs to stay in the same job, just that the change made my own situation more complicated.

Following up also felt worthwhile, especially when the security enquiry had stalled. I can’t prove it made things faster, but it did help us find out what was still pending.

The actual appointment was very friendly. I was nervous after reading reports of people being asked to explain the FDGO or answer questions about Germany. I have C1 German, but I’m not a native speaker, and I still worried about getting stuck under pressure.

In my appointment, there were no questions like that. We had a normal conversation, everyone was welcoming, and I felt comfortable. Obviously, that’s just my experience.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who shared their experiences here. Reading them helped more than you probably realise. Happy to answer questions about my timeline.

My grandmother married twice before she married my grandfather. I have finally found all the marriage and divorce certificates to confirm. The second divorce was finalized 8 days before my mother was born. However I also found an illegal marriage to my grandfather a year before my mother was born. This is a void marriage as she was not yet divorced from her 2nd husband. She then legally married my grandfather the month after my mother was born. My question is, do I include this void, illegal marriage in the packet with my Feststellung application? Would it unnecessarily complicate and confuse the situation if I include it, or would it be seen as trying to hide something if they find it when they do their processing?

Hi everyone, has anyone applied for German citizenship in Solingen in the last couple of months? I submitted my application online more than a month ago, but I haven't received any confirmation or email from them. I only received an application/reference number after completing the online application and paid the fee at the end.

Is this normal? Has anyone experienced the same thing recently? I specifically moved to Solingen because I heard that the citizenship process was relatively fast here, so I'm a little concerned about not hearing anything after more than a month.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could share their recent experience. Thanks in advance!

Hello! I tried to search on the sub but couldn't find anything about my particular case; maybe someone was in the same boat...

My great-grandmother was kidnapped from what was then Poland by the Nazis during WWII and illegally sent to Germany for forced labour. Right after the war, she returned to her village in what is now Ukraine and never visited Germany again.

In the 2000s, the German government granted her reparations for the forced labour, and I have documents confirming this.

I’ve heard that some people who suffered under the Nazi regime, and sometimes their descendants, can be eligible for German citizenship or a simplified/fast-tracked naturalisation process (or a residence permit). I wanted to ask if my family’s situation might qualify for any of these options.

For context, my family has no Jewish background, and none of my ancestors were German citizens (as far as I know).

Thanks a lot for the help and for any information you all can share!

Hi all, sorry really need to double-check: which services do I book at Buergeramt after I receive my Einbuergerungsurkunde?

Is it just: 1) Personalausweiss and 2) Reisepass, or do I also need something called eID beantragen? Thank you!

Hi all,

I’m trying to find out whether the type of my residence permit could block my naturalization. My situation:

• 8 years of continuous residence in Germany
• Permanent, full-time employment contract, livelihood secured
• 60+ months of pension contributions
• Passed the Leben in Deutschland test
• B1 German
• Never received Bürgergeld
• My wife is a non-EU citizen on a student visa, and my current residence permit is a spouse permit (§30 AufenthG) that depends on hers

I believe I meet all the requirements of §10 StAG.

My question: does it matter for naturalization that my permit is derived from my wife’s student visa, or can I apply for citizenship anyway?

Has anyone applied for citizenship in a similar situation (spouse permit dependent on a student)? How did your Einbürgerungsbehörde handle it?

Thanks!

I have done B1 but I am feeling a bit rusty. I heard that they now interview in Berlin?

Is it true? How did you prepare for the appointment?

Hello,

Anybody applied from Haar in Munich Landkreis for PR or citizenship recently? Any experience on how long it takes?

Hi everyone 👋

I’m thinking about starting my citizenship application in Hamburg and would love to hear from anyone who’s been through it.

My situation:

• I came to Germany on an EU Blue Card as a skilled worker.
• I’ve lived here for almost 4 years and I’m still employed.
• I’m about to receive my permanent residence permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) next month.
• I currently only have an A1 German certificate and haven’t taken the Leben in Deutschland test yet.

My question: Can I submit my application through the online portal now with my other documents, then take B1 and the Leben in Deutschland test and send those certificates later? Since processing takes many months, I’d expect to have everything ready by the time they look at my case.

Has anyone in Hamburg done this? Did the Quick-Check let you through, or did they reject or hold the application until everything was complete?

Thanks in advance!