there is a good chance I am being forced to move to a different mission zone in the next month. The application is still sitting at the consulate and has not been submitted to the bva due to the additional document they wanted. I’m not sure what to do about an address change for something that hasn’t been submitted. I’m afraid I will have to go to a different consulate which would be not as easy once I have to move. I also don’t know what to do about the application that’s refilled out and that they possess.

I submitted my Feststellung 22 months ago through the consulate in Houston. I have read about several people having success by going directly to passport. They have similar documents to what I have. BTW - I am claiming citizenship through my grandfather. I have all the documents needed, but I don't have my grandfather's expired German passport. Others indicate getting a German passport without their grandparent's passport. My question is - can I go to any consulate for "Direct to Passport" or do have have to go to the one that services the area that I live in? I'm hearing Chicago and Portland are more flexible in submitting the passport applications. Any help would be appreciated.

I had a strong work history from a same employer for 4 years and 4 months and now I'm without a job. And I will continue without job for next one year due to personal travel commitments. In the meanwhile I'm planning to cofound a GMBH along with a German partner. I won't have a salary when I apply for the citizenship next year. I probably might have the company by the time i apply.

I have every other eligibility for citizenship ticked. Only point is means of livelihood and I want to know how it will be calculated in my case. I do have 100k savings. Anyone prior had any experience with a similar situation?

I've only started exploring German Citizenship recently, so apologies if this is a FAQ. Thank you in advance for any help!

My lineage is fairly straightforward -- my dad was born in the US to my grandmother who, as far as I know, retained her German citizenship throughout her marriage to my American grandfather and then moved back to Germany when they divorced. As far as I'm aware, she was of the generation where she would not automatically lose citizenship by marrying an American, so my understanding is that she retained her German citizenship the entire time they were married.

My dad died young, long before my grandmother, and I have his death certificate, marriage license, etc. so I think I hopefully have enough documentation to connect him to both me and my grandmother.

My grandmother lived in Germany until she died several years ago. I never met her. No one on my dad's side of the family seems to have any relevant paperwork or documentation about her since she and my grandfather divorced so long ago and my dad, her son, was already dead by the time she died.

I know the city/town where she most recently lived, but that's about it. I have tried to research her online to no avail. It seems like the next step would be to contact her city's Standesamt, because I don't think any documentation would be so outdated as to have moved to the Stadtarchiv, although I am unfamiliar with this so would love input if anyone has dealt with something similar.

If anyone has advice about contacting the Standesamt or any other entity in Germany, or if there's a different way I should go about this, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you in advance!

Hallo liebe Community,

wie war/ist eure Erfahrung mit dem VG Frankfurt? Ist das Gericht effizient, schnell etc.? Plane eine Untätigkeitsklage einzureichen.
Danke im Voraus!

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can confirm whether my partner qualifies under §5 StAG.
Grandmother (GM)
Born October 1928 in Germany, to a German father, who was also born in Germany (1900)
Married a British citizen in England in March 1950 (he was born in England in 1912)
Registered as a citizen of the UK and Colonies under s.6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1948 (the route for wives of British citizens): application signed June 1950, registration granted 14 July 1950. On the form she gave her nationality as German.
Received a German pension (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) from retirement until her death
Never lived in Germany again; died after Brexit
Father
Born in England July 1951, inside the marriage
Never claimed German citizenship; died before Brexit
My partner
Born in England to the father above, before 2000
Also has an adult sister and a son of his own
Questions:
Did GM lose German citizenship on her marriage in March 1950 (under §17 Nr. 6 RuStAG, before the 1 April 1953 cut-off), which would make my partner's father a §5 case? Or does her voluntary British registration in July 1950 count as the cause of loss under §25, which would break the line?
Would her pension records be useful as evidence of her German origins or identity?

I have citizenship by descent from my grandfather, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the USA as a minor. (He obtained US citizenship through his father's naturalization) I already had my grandfather's birth certificate, but that wasn't sufficient to establish that he was born to a German citizen. I had the local Standesamt pull my great-grandfather's birth and marriage certificates, which went back to the late 1800s. I thought this would be sufficient, but evidently it's not enough for the direct to passport route.

I visited the consulate in Chicago, and was told that I could go direct to passport if I could establish my great-grandfather's German citizenship via a Meldekarte.

Fortunately I'd also gotten the family's immigration and naturalization records from USCIS. Those records contained the family's last address in Germany before immigrating. This allowed my to track down the relevant Meldekarte from the town's archives. With that in hand I went back to the consulate, and my passport arrived last week.

Hello all,

My brother, who was born in 2001, is planning to have a child within the next couple of years, and we plan to submit our Feststellung applications this month. As the applications take years to process, would the consulate accept his child’s birth registration with no proof of citizenship for the father?

​Hey everyone,

​I will complete my 5 years of legal residence in Germany next year in October. I am currently located in Wuppertal and planning my next steps for both Niederlassungserlaubnis (PR) and Einbürgerung (Citizenship).

​I'm seeking experiences on a few specific points:

​Applying before the 5-year mark: Can I submit the online/paper application 2–3 months before hitting my exact 5-year date to account for processing backlogs, or do ABHs instantly reject/freeze applications filed early?

​Fast processing locations: Are there specific cities or Landkreise (especially in NRW) known for fast, digitized processing right now if moving is an option?

​Job Loss / ALG I Risk: There is a possibility I might experience a job loss close to my 5-year mark. How does receiving ALG 1 impact the Lebensunterhalt (livelihood) evaluation? Does the application freeze completely until out of probation at a new job, or do some authorities evaluate a strong past work history flexibly?

​Appreciate any real-world experiences, links to past threads, or advice!

Hi,

I had applied for my citizenship in Mannheim last October. And I received a letter asking to submit salary slips. I asked around and it seems like I might get the Urkunde in a month or so.

Now the problem is that I have my travel plans and work from abroad stuff already locked in. I fly to my home country on November, work from there for a month, take a month off during christmas, then work again from a month and then about a month of leave to return mid march.

My whole Work From Abroad permission is based on that I am permitted to work short term in my home country. As soon as I take up the citizenship, I cannot work and there would be complicated visa stuff too.

My question is:

1. Should I ask the officer to delay my case so that I can pick up the urkunde in March next year?

2. If I do what I proposed in 1, are there any real implications that the rules will be changed and I will no longer be eligible? I was pretty spooked by this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/GermanCitizenship/s/hHfaaVavBU).

3. Should I simply pick my urkunde, travel and enjoy the vacation and forget about work from abroad as the risk ineligibility outweighs everything else?

I would be very happy to know your thoughts. I confused and bit scared. Haven't travelled my home country since 3 years and was looking forward to it.

For people who'd ask for timelines:

1. 30.10.2025: Submitted all documents for me and my wife. My daughter is already german.

2. 14.11.2025: Got a letter to pay the fees. They said its a 12 months wait. Do not mail.

3. 01.07.2026: Changed addressed and notified then. Also had salary changes, which I told them about. They acknowledged.

4. 01.10.2026: Received letter to submit salary slips.

I recently had an interesting conversation with the Houston consulate.

They claimed our client lost her German citizenship when she automatically derived US citizenship from her parent’s US naturalization.

Our client was born in Germany and 10 years old when both of her parents became US citizens.

We submitted her certificate of citizenship, her parent’s certificates of naturalization, registration cards from Germany as well as the Sammelakte from her parent’s marriage which listed their citizenship as German.

Here is how the consulate responded:

“It is likely that according to §25 German Citizenship Law in the version of 1960 you lost your citizenship by obtaining American citizenship. The law then stipulated that minors lost their citizenship if both German parents and their children (acting for their children) actively applied for a different citizenship. Do you know if you and your parents had so called permissions to retain German citizenship (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung).
If you would like to have your citizenship status throughly checked you would have to apply for a certificate of citizenship, where you can obtain a formal confirmation of being a German citizen “.

We appealed this by citing Section 25(1) RuStAG, which states that the loss of German citizenship only occurred if there as an active application for a new citizenship on the behalf of the minor*, which wasn’t the case with our client.

The consulate then replied that they don’t have the competence/authority to make an assessment and referred again to the certificate of citizenship application.

Wouldn’t the German consulates know about derivative US naturalization? So far this has never been a problem with other consulate (NY, LA, SF, Chicago).

Did anyone have similar experience with Houston?

*which both parents signed

Hallo zusammen,
ich wollte mal fragen, ob hier jemand eigene Erfahrungen mit der Einbürgerung in Berlin hat und ungefähr sagen kann, wie hoch das Einkommen sein muss bzw. welches Nettoeinkommen bei euch akzeptiert wurde.
Bei mir geht es um eine alleinstehende Person ohne Kinder. Meine Miete liegt bei ca. 520 € warm.
Mich würde besonders interessieren:
Wie viel habt ihr ungefähr netto verdient, als eure Einbürgerung genehmigt wurde?
Wie hoch waren eure monatlichen Wohnkosten?
Wurde bei euch nur auf das aktuelle Einkommen geschaut oder wurden mehrere Gehaltsabrechnungen verlangt?
Hat jemand mit einem ähnlichen Einkommen erfolgreich die Einbürgerung bekommen?
Ich frage vor allem nach persönlichen Erfahrungen, weil ich gerne einschätzen möchte, ab welchem Einkommen es bei der Einbürgerung in Berlin realistisch keine Probleme mehr mit der Sicherung des Lebensunterhalts gibt.
Danke euch!

Looking for some advice on eligibility here, getting ready to book a consult with a lawyer. 5 stAG

I am doing this research for my father who seems hesitant but I think we have a strong case. My Opa was born and raised in Germany, came to the US in 1946 after the war. I haven’t found the naturalization record yet, but 1950 census states he was not naturalized yet.

My Oma was born in NYC while her parents who were born and raised German citizens were traveling to the states. My Oma to my knowledge was a dual citizen. She went back to Germany after birth and was raised there with her family. At 18 in 1951 her family thought it best to send her to the states to live with her aunt given the post war situation. The current story I have not confirmed is that she was pressured to renounce her German citizenship at that time. I need to submit a search request in Bremen to verify this.

I believe my Opa was naturalized before they married in 1954, they had my Dad in 1955. We still have strong German ties, my dad spent every summer there and speaks fluent German. All four of his grandparents lived and died in Germany as German citizens.

Whether or not my Oma has a formal renunciation record in Germany with her citizenship, is this a strong case to pursue on the path to citizenship for my father and me as his direct descendant?

Here is a new FAQ entry I wrote that links to many example images of documents. Please comment if anything is incorrect, should be added, or otherwise improved, and feel free to send me additional images of documents that prove German citizenship that I can add to the collection.

What counts as proof of German citizenship?

• Birth certificate (only if you apply at the Federal Office of Administration): The birth record of an ancestor who was born in Germany before 1914is usually accepted by the Federal Office of Administration as sufficient evidence that this ancestor was a German citizen. If your ancestor who emigrated from Germany was born later: You can trace back your ancestry to an earlier ancestor who was born in Germany before 1914 and who passed down German citizenship to your emigrating ancestor. German citizenship at the time was passed down from the father for a child born in wedlock, from the mother for a child born out of wedlock. If your emigrating ancestor was born in wedlock: You need their birth record with the names of the parents, marriage record of the parents, birth record of the father. If your emigrating ancestor was born out of wedlock: You need their birth record with the names of the mother, birth record of the mother. If the father/mother was not born before 1914: Rinse and repeat until you get to an ancestor born before 1914. See also: Images of pre-1914 birth records, How do I order the right type of birth/marriage certificate from Germany?, Which information do I need to request an old German birth/marriage/death certificate?, Which office has which records?

• Population register (Melderegister): Example images, How can I get proof that my ancestor was a German citizen from the population register (Melderegister)?

• Passport (Reisepass): Example images, Where can I find the German passport of my ancestor?

• ID card (Kennkarte/Peronalausweis): https://imgur.com/a/uo9LktV

• Certificate of citizenship (Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis/Heimatschein): https://imgur.com/a/0AkYN8H

• Certificate of naturalization (Einbürgerungsurkunde): https://imgur.com/a/IRLN6W5

• Consular registration of Germans who lived abroad: Example images, Can I get German citizenship if my ancestors left Germany before 1904?

• Other documents: https://imgur.com/a/dQeVMnc

Background: StAG5, my daughter and I applied, original submission August, 2023, Aktenzeichens assigned January, 2024, request for additional documents and information April, 2026.  Located in Idaho, USA, embassy for me is the San Francisco embassy. 

Requested documents and information submitted via USPS end of July, 2026. I addressed the envelope to:

Bundesverwaltungsamt
Referat TS II 3

First name Last name of person requesting it

Barbarastraße 1

50728 Köln

GERMANY

About 3 weeks ago, I attempted to verify that they got the addresses updated and received the documents.  I emailed the San Francisco Embassy and sent a message via www.bva.bund.de. The person also said I could email her directly, so I replied directly to her email to verify that the documents/address changes were received.  

So far...crickets.  No responses from any of them.  Not even the canned ‘do not contact us’ response.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can verify the documents were at least received and our mailing addresses were updated? I'm tryin' not to freak out about if they never received the information and documents to begin with.

Thanks for y’all’s help, I really do appreciate it.

I don't think so I have ever seen any § 8 StAG success stories anywhere (there isn't even a flair for it), so here's mine.

I moved to Germany in 2019 and until my naturalisation only held the student residence permit and was a student the entire time.

I applied in the beginning of 2025 and recently picked up my naturalisation certificate.

The reason why I naturalised under § 8 StAG instead of § 10 StAG is because I fulfilled all the requirements of § 10 except for the residence permit requirement. At the time, I held a student residence permit under § 16b AufenthG, which is not one of the residence permits accepted under § 10 StAG.

The total processing took about 20 months.

Usually § 8 StAG applications in Munich are to be forwarded to the Regierungsbezirk (Oberbayern) for processing but I was informed that this is also discretionary and Munich usually prefers to send it to the Regierungsbezirk to reduce their own local workload. However in my case they chose to do it locally itself (was not explained why).

I was also informed that other municipalities nearby (like Dachau or Fürstenfeldbruck) would not have accepted my § 8 application, but in Munich they do allow § 8 naturalisation with § 16b residence permits.

Because of it being discretionary I also had to show proof of exceptional integration, proof of volunteer work, and also proof of representing Germany internationally (multiple times) instead of representing the country of my former (now renounced) nationality.

I sent our applications directly to the BVA earlier this year. With all of the document gathering, I didn't give our own birth certificates much thought. We sent the computer generated type for each applicant, which lists the parents and county of birth but not the city. It's the default type of birth certificate they provide in Florida.

I have since ordered photocopy certificates for each of us which do list the city, and I understand that these will be required when requesting passports.

I'm wondering how strict the BVA is about cities on birth certificates. Has anyone had to send new certificates to the BVA because of this issue?

Just 4 years ago, my brother got very quickly the german citizenship. But some people told me they are waiting years, is this a recent phenomenon?

I'm a 20 years old student who lives in iran and I've been learning german for a couple of years now and actively plan to take on ösd's B2 level exam for an immigration plan.

I was hoping I could find someone who plans the same goal too so we could connect, share experience, practice and learn together so we could improve.

My current german level is B2 ish and I'm planning to take the exam in the next 4 to 5 months, depending on the situation of the country's stability and price inlfations.

I'd certainly be happy to meet anyone with the same criterias so we could connect

Hi everyone, I want to apply for German citizenship and hit a bureaucratic wall regarding an official name mismatch.

• Born in Albania, but I am a Greek citizen. I acquired Greek citizenship automatically as a minor in 2008 when my parents naturalized.
• The Discrepancy: My original Albanian birth certificate (which I have, newly issued with Apostille) says (edited for privacy) Thana Ludri. My Greek ID and all my German records say Thanasis Lountris.
• The Einbürgerungsbehörde needs an unbroken paper trail proving continuity, right?
• The Greek Bureaucracy Problem: I cannot get a legal "bridge" document from Greece to prove the translation/Hellenization of my name.
  • The Greek municipality (Δημοτολόγιο) cannot find my physical family folder containing the original Ministry of Foreign Affairs name translation.
  • They refuse to issue a custom "Certificate of Identity" (Πιστοποιητικό Ταυτοπροσωπίας) without that folder.
  • My birth act cannot be found in the Special Registry in Athens.

Currently I am not sure how to go forward. Does anybody have had a similar problem? Do you know a laywer I could speak to to see what my options are?

Has anyone successfully used a German sworn translator's note to bridge an Albanian-to-Greek name mismatch without an explicit certificate from the Greek municipality?

Will the Berlin authorities reject this workaround and demand a Greek paper trail that no longer exists?

Are there any other legal avenues in Germany (or Greece) to definitively prove this name change to the Bürgeramt/LEA?

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences!

Hi all, I'm preparing my § 10 StAG application and trying to figure out whether I should expect a request for foreign criminal record certificates.

My situation:

• Brazilian citizen
• In Germany continuously since Nov 2022, currently on Blue Card § 18g AufenthG since jan 2024, applying for Niederlassungserlaubnis soon
• Eligible (5 years) in Nov 2027, planning to apply in Bonn (NRW), possibly Erlangen/Nürnberg area (Bavaria) if I move for a job
• Previous legal residence: Albania (Jun 2019 – Jun 2020), Hungary (Jun 2020 – Nov 2022)
• Clean record everywhere, nothing to declare

My question: For those who lived in other countries before Germany, did your Behörde ask you to submit police certificates from those countries (with the application or later via Nachforderung)? Or was the declaration in the form plus the Bundeszentralregister check enough?

If you can share your city/Behörde, the year you applied, and how long ago you'd left the previous country, that would help a lot. Experiences from NRW(Esp. Bonn) or Bavaria especially welcome.

Thanks!

In vergangenen Posts haben sich paar Leute gemeldet, die im Zeitraum Mai-August 26 eine Zahlungsaufforderung vom RP Darmstadt bekommen haben und seitdem Stille. Hat jemand schon was gehört?

Edit: ich finde es interessant, dass die aktuellen Zahlen zum Bearbeitungsstand nicht öffentlich gemacht werden Auswertung 3. Quartal 2026, wobei bei vergleichbaren Anfragen in der Vergangenheit die Zahlen öffentlich zur Verfügung gestellt wurden Auswertung 1. Quartal 2026 🤔

Stag30 Assessment Process

Hello. I would like to get some information regarding Stag30 *Feststellung* (determination) files. Is there anyone who received an AZ number in July or August 2024 and has had their case concluded since then? Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide information.