Do you live in Germany and want to obtain German citizenship? Find out here what requirements you need to fulfil for naturalization in Germany and what advantages German citizenship brings.
Since 2 February 2024, people in Germany can be naturalized more quickly and, under certain conditions, retain their previous citizenship.
1. The most important changes
- Faster naturalization in Germany: In future, naturalization will be possible after just five years instead of the previous eight. In the case of “special integration achievements” (e.g. good performance at school or work or civic engagement), naturalization will even be possible after just three years. In future, children of foreign parents will be granted German citizenship at birth if one parent has been legally resident in Germany for five years.
- Dual citizenship: German citizenship law previously required that the original citizenship had to be given up “in principle” before naturalization in Germany. It is now possible to retain the previous citizenship in future. In future, the German government will waive the renunciation of previous citizenship, making it possible to hold another citizenship in addition to German citizenship. However, the requirement for this is that dual citizenship is also permitted in the country of the previous citizenship.
- Guest workers: Anyone who came to the Federal Republic as a guest worker or as a contract worker in the GDR only has to prove oral knowledge of German for naturalization and no longer has to take a naturalization test.
2. Advantages of German citizenship
- Right to vote: As a German citizen, you can help shape politics in Germany by actively voting.
- Access to all professions: As a German citizen, you are free to choose your profession. The profession you choose is no longer dependent on your residence permit. For example, you can work for the police, as a teacher, judge or public prosecutor.
- Lifelong secure residence: As a German citizen, you will receive lifelong secure residence status in Germany without having to obtain authorization from the immigration authorities. You can also work in all EU member states without having to apply for an additional residence permit.
- Freedom to travel: As a German citizen, you can travel to 189 countries without a visa (as of January 2021). Hardly any other nationality in the world offers you this advantage.
- State protection: As a German citizen, you are protected against deportation or extradition to another country. Abroad, the German embassies are also responsible for you and offer you protection.
3. Requirements
- Indefinite or permanent right of residence at the time of naturalization (usually 3 to 5 years)
- Clarified identity and nationality
- Commitment to the free democratic basic order of the Basic Law
- Oral and written German language skills
- Proof of knowledge of the legal and social order and living conditions in Germany (naturalization test)
- Independent (financial) means of subsistence for yourself and your dependants
- No conviction for a criminal offence
4. Procedure
- Check requirements (we will support you with this)
- Prepare documents (we will support you with this)
- Apply for naturalization (we will support you with this)
- Send application documents (we will support you with this)
5. Costs
The state fee for naturalization is EUR 255.00 for adults and EUR 51.00 for underage children who are naturalized together with their parents.
Unlike many law firms, we do not want to charge our clients an hourly fee in order to protect them from high costs, but rather charge a fixed price. The costs for our assignment amount to EUR 999.00 (gross). To our knowledge, this is currently the most favorable price.
6. VISALABS: Support with naturalisation / obtaining German citizenship
Citizenship law has developed considerably in recent years. The amendment to the law is intended to simplify naturalisation in Germany through the acquisition of German citizenship. This also includes the possibility of retaining previous foreign citizenship in addition to German citizenship (dual citizenship). Visalabs has already carried out numerous procedures for naturalisation in Germany and for obtaining German citizenship. So far, we have successfully assisted all our clients in obtaining German citizenship. Thanks to our many years of experience in the field of residence and citizenship law, we can also support you in obtaining German citizenship. Thanks to our intuitive application portal, we are able to collect the application documents for naturalisation in Germany in a short space of time. As soon as we have received all the documents, our lawyers, who specialise in the field of naturalisation in Germany, will review your application. Should there be any queries, we will contact you immediately to discuss a solution. If you have any questions about naturalisation in Germany or obtaining German citizenship during the process, our lawyers will be happy to answer them at any time. There are no additional costs for this. We will take care of all the necessary steps so that the application process can be completed quickly and smoothly. If there are any problems with the naturalisation authority in Germany, we will take care of them for you.
If you are interested in obtaining German citizenship, please contact us at any time for a free personal consultation. Our lawyers will be happy to answer any questions you may have about naturalisation in Germany at any time.
We will be happy to support you with the necessary steps and provide you with all the necessary information. In a free initial consultation, we can check whether all the requirements are met.
