Hi All,

After living in germany for 8 years and 4 month we had applied for our German Citizenship last year. It took 12 weeks of processing time to get Einbürgerungsurkunde. My sincere thanks to this forum members and Detlef.

Short info about the Timeframe.

Student 2003 - 2005
Work 2005 -
BE 2006
Application for NE 2009
Application for Citizenship 06/2011
Citizenship 09/2011

Application in Stuttgart Area, BW. For Citizenship, had submitted Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer 100% score and Einbürgerungstest 100% score.
After submitting Citizenship application at Rathaus received a letter from Landratsamt stating I should better not contact them regarding status of my application. I shall get status update when processing is done. So after receiving letter, to transfer fees for Citizenship; I called them to make an appointment to receive Einbürgerungsurkunde at Landratsamt.
Went to Rathaus to apply for our German Passports. A week letter again visited Rathaus and our Passports were ready. While applying for Passports at Rathaus they informed us that we will not get any letter or status when passport is ready.
Wir sollen mal vorbei kommen und fragen ob die Reisepässe da sind!!

Then on the basis of Einbürgerungsurkunde applied for Nationality Surrendering Certificate(for India) at CGI Munich, it took around 8-10 days,
after receiving Nationality Surrendering Certificate applied for OCI Card.
OCI Processing took 4 weeks.

Best regards

Congratulations !!!

Congratulations and thanks for sharing the experience.

In general, Bayern,Hessen and BW dont consider student times by interpreting the law to their advantage. The term 'gewöhnliche Aufenthalt' gives the freedom to the authorities. As students are considered to be here only for studies and then return to home country, it accounts only for a temporary (limited) stay and thus not considered 'gewöhnlich'.

§ 16 Abs. 4 AufenthG added a twist to the tale due to which many of them have started considering it as 'gewöhnlich' and use it for citizenship calculation.

"(4) Nach erfolgreichem Abschluss des Studiums kann die Aufenthaltserlaubnis bis zu einem Jahr zur Suche eines diesem Abschluss angemessenen Arbeitsplatzes, sofern er nach den Bestimmungen der §§ 18, 19 und 21 von Ausländern besetzt werden darf, verlängert werden. Absatz 3 gilt entsprechend. § 9 findet keine Anwendung."

But still not everybody in these conservative lands have started considering and stubbornly stick to the old rules. The problem is that you cannot argue with them! Different Einbürgerungsbehörde treat it differently.

Can you please tell which Einbürgerungsbehörde it was in Stuttgart? Do you know about other stories in Stuttgart in different EB where student times were counted? Please share.

I am astonished how quickly people are ready to give up their own nationality to take the german one. I have a NE been living here for 13 years and I am glad to keep my passport. Theremight be something I am missing.
Cheers
Bolo

Dear Bolo,

Different people have different reasons for accepting the German nationality and there is nothing negative or positive about it.

For example, there could be people who are interested in politics of Germany and Europe and want to contribute actively to it.

There are people working in international companies with extremely high amount of international professional travel and are restricted by their citizenship. Therefore, they have disadvantages compared to their European counterparts. This is very often the case with Indians or South Africans.

There are also people who feel more at home in Germany after having lived here for 8-9 years and have settled down here for good.

Or they might feel safer having the German citizenship, especially if they have children and also want them to have the German citizenship and make them feel at par.

And last not but the least - 8-9 years is not 'quick' as you mention but a rather long period of time.

So maybe people also would be wondering why you dont have the German citizenship after all these years? Maybe you dont feel at ease in Germany.

Supersid

Dear all,
I am new to your forum but find it very useful and visit it often to get answers to my questions.

I am currently in the process of applying for German nationality. I read here that one has to apply at the Indian Consulate for a surrender certificate. I have also heard from others that actually that is not necessary, one just has to give up passport at the Rathaus and they will take care of the rest. One should just get the copy of the passport certified from the Amt for posterity.

What is true and what is not? Please advise

Thanks in advance.