Hi,
I have finished the integration course. According to law I can get citizenship after 7 years of residence. Also, the application takes 2 years to be processed. my question is, Can I apply now, after 5 years of living, or I can only apply after 7 years, and then it will take 2 more years??

Hi Suji,

In your case it is "acquiring citizenship through naturalization". Normally it take 8 years of residence to qualify, but since you finished the integration course you are eligible after 7 years. This information I guess you already aware of :-)

Granting citizenship is subjected to the whims and fancy of respective Einbürgerungsbehörde/Kreisverwaltung/Bezirksamt/Ausländerbehörde. I have known people who are still waiting for citizenship even after 15 years of residence and people who got it after 5 years (not as spouse). Granting citizenship is based solely on individual merits.

Now for some of us who think getting german passport is an end to suffering/struggle/insecurity, here is the punchline :-) german goverment has the absolute authority to nullify your citizenship when it deemed fit in the interest of germany.

"Can I apply now, after 5 years of living, or I can only apply after 7 years, and then it will take 2 more years??"

You can apply a couple of months before you finish your 7 years. They may accept it but 2 years is an exaggeration. it wont work.

Who told you that it takes 2 years ? it depends on the state and your original nationaility though but German Authorities give you the Citizenship-Proof pretty quickly(meaning less than a year), if you fullfill all the requirements but then you need to denaturalize yourself from your current citizenhip to be able to get the final ok for the german citizenship. This may take long time depending on your home country. Some countries interestingly try to make the way of denaturalization difficult for their citizens. ( The lenght of this period can not be controlled by german authorities. )

Regards,

Lacrima

hi Akshay,

Can you tell me the type of cases, where people got it after 5 years.

I mean, it should not include those, whose grandparents were german citizens. I know such cases of people from Israel, and Russia..

If you have such case, where an economic migrant got citizenship in 5 years, solely based on his merit..then please let me know..

greetings!

hi all,
Can anyone tell me what do one do , (apart from finishing 8 yrs in DE).
to denaturalise from ones country (eg. India), and get citizenship from onother (eg. DE).regards to all

"german goverment has the absolute authority to nullify your citizenship when it deemed fit in the interest of germany."

lol any country would at least nullify the citizenship of those who work against its interests to benefit of some other nation and gets caught. i thought it's an axiom - if state makes nothing in case of sabotage/spionage it will not live long, nor will live long the nation that makes backbone of it

you just need to act always in interests of Germany on international arena, and your citizenship will not be revoked

"Some countries interestingly try to make the way of denaturalization difficult for their citizens."

some make it even impossible. just 'cause when they did not, nobody would live there

i even know one country that will not denaturalize a person whom it wants to punish badly even if they become president of other country


but if you prove to german authorities that you have made everything possible in order to be denaturalized and it just can not work out, they are allowed to give you a citizenship without denaturalization

"If you have such case, where an economic migrant got citizenship in 5 years, solely based on his merit..then please let me know.."

if you are stateless you can get it even in 3 years ;)