Hi - I am told that there is a possibility to apply for German citizenship for a person with NE who has worked and lived (paid tax through out) in Germany for 8 years. However the the language test (B1 level and citizenship exam) can be waived based on the person's skills, salary and qualification (high skilled, high income, rare skill). Is this informatio correct? I heard that it is not a regular process but the request can be considered if a person meets the criteria. Any one in this forum with such experience?

Thanks.
B

Hi,
I guess u want this info for someone u know.
Ask them to pack their bags and get back to where they hail from even if it is possible to obtain citizenship with out knowing the language.

Wonder what the motivation could be to obtain citizenship without wanting to pass a very simple exam.Just ask them to pack bags and get back home!!!
And i hope u are a German citizen/wanting to become one in the correct way ;)

Cheers
D

i am looking to get driving license without passing driving test!! is it possible?? else can i br*be?

and I want to become an engineer without going to University is it still possible......ha ha ha.....lolz :p

Though its important to know German to live in Germany , I do not think one should know German at level of B1 to be elligible for citizenship. I have NE as per $19 and My job doesn"t require me to know German.My German is ok but may not be enough for B1.Its beside the point that I am not applying for German citizenship but in any case do not agree with the above statements.

We shall answer to the question asked and not ridicule it, just because it doesn't apply to us.

Sorry but i would be interested to know the answer if someone has.

What's your point? Level B1 is too high or it should be allowed to become a citizen of the country without knowing the country's language? Regarding the question at hand - there should be no way to get german citizenship without passing the language test. Even if you get married to a german and come to the country as a wife/husband you need to pass the test, if you reunite after being exiled during world war II you still need this test. It feels stupid even to research this issue.

I checked the rules and am pleased to tell you (as far I can judge) not the case that you can get citizenship without language Maybe I am wrong.

The most amount of discretion can be practiced under § 8 StaG (like after 3 years instead of 8) and even here language is an important criterion. The highest authorities in the state can practice this discretion if your citizenship is a case of 'öffentliches Interesse' like sportsman, in economics, science etc.

So even here conversational German is not enough ! You do need B1.

You can also get relaxation if you are disabled - hopefully thats not the case for you

-----------------
Now why am I pleased to say that it doesnt work - with all respect to qualified people, I think qualification is not an excuse for not speaking the language at even B1 level (which I consider a basic level!). In Germany, language is seen as a measure of integration and everyone should respect it.

For me, it would be a matter of shame to accept citizenship of a country without even speaking the lanaguage. In my view, such people create a blockage for other.
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8.1.2.1 Einordnung in die deutschen Lebensverhältnisse, insbesondere ausrei-
chende Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache


Der Einbürgerungsbewerber muss sich in die deutschen Lebensverhält-
nisse eingeordnet haben, insbesondere über ausreichende Kenntnisse der
deutschen Sprache verfügen.


8.1.2.1.1 Sprachkenntnisse


Ausreichende Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache liegen vor, wenn sich
der Einbürgerungsbewerber im täglichen Leben einschließlich der übli-
chen Kontakte mit Behörden in seiner deutschen Umgebung sprachlich
zurechtzufinden vermag und mit ihm ein seinem Alter und Bildungsstand
entsprechendes Gespräch geführt werden kann. Dazu gehört auch, dass
der Einbürgerungsbewerber einen deutschsprachigen Text des alltägli-
chen Lebens lesen, verstehen und die wesentlichen Inhalte mündlich wie-
dergeben kann. Die Fähigkeit, sich auf einfache Art mündlich verständigen
zu können, reicht nicht aus. Bei den Anforderungen an die deutschen
Sprachkenntnisse ist zu berücksichtigen, ob sie von dem Einbürgerungs-
bewerber wegen einer körperlichen oder geistigen Krankheit oder Behin-
derung nicht erfüllt werden können.


8.1.2.1.2 Nachweis der Sprachkenntnisse


Ob ausreichende Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache vorliegen, ist von der
Einbürgerungsbehörde zu prüfen. Die erforderlichen Sprachkenntnisse
sind in der Regel nachgewiesen, wenn der Einbürgerungsbewerber


a) das Zertifikat Deutsch oder ein gleichwertiges Sprachdiplom erworben
hat,


b) vier Jahre eine deutschsprachige Schule mit Erfolg (Versetzung in die
nächsthöhere Klasse) besucht hat,


c) einen Hauptschulabschluss oder wenigstens gleichwertigen deutschen
Schulabschluss erworben hat,


d) in die zehnte Klasse einer weiterführenden deutschsprachigen Schule
(Realschule, Gymnasium oder Gesamtschule) versetzt worden ist oder



e) ein Studium an einer deutschsprachigen Hochschule oder Fachhoch-
schule oder eine deutsche Berufsausbildung erfolgreich abgeschlossen
hat.


Sind die erforderlichen Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache nicht oder nicht
hinreichend nachgewiesen, soll das persönliche Erscheinen des Einbürge-
rungsbewerbers zur Überprüfung der Sprachkenntnisse angeordnet wer-
den. Die Anforderungen des Zertifikats Deutsch (ISBN 3-933908-17-5)
sind dafür ein geeigneter Maßstab.

My point of view was not that German is not important or one should get citizenship without learning the language of the country.

My point of view was the way people here deal with questions of others.

Secondly putting hand on the heart we all know the real reason most of the people applied for German citizenship here.Visa free travel travelling and professional flexibilty to move around being the most obvious reasons( Exceptions are always there).
I wonder hpw many pepole would have applied for German citizenship if 6 months rule won't be there on NE and Indians get the same visa regulations as Germans.

This may be a politically incorrect statement but its true.

As I said exceptions are alwys there..

Hi vebalu,
Everything is possbile, if you are at the right place at right person at right time.Yes, I know a close friend of mine, who got a citizenship without writing B1 and even einbürgerung test.In this case, he did not apply for citizenship rather they offered him a citizenship.The behörde was bremen.The overall processing time was 2 weeks. The chef of the behörde, said that germany needs such people (he had a Ph.D + N.E+working in fa.Airbus )and did everything for him. I my experience we cant generalize anything here. Every case is unique.Go and hit it.Who knows it may work for you.
Gehts nicht,gibts nicht.
-peace-

@ Gandhian - when was this ? Several years back there were no big language requirements - only some years back they did this.

All - I thought Trust 7 is an open forum to ask questions to get some valid information. Probably the intention is misunderstood by some people here.

Like Gandhian mentioned, I heard of a case through some other person (recent one). He is a highly qualified person with very high salary. His company transferred him to some other country in Europe. He has been working in an American Multinational company with working language as English. When he explored further, the authorities asked him to apply for the Citizenship so that he could return to Germany. I heard that the entire process has been completed in less than 6 months.

The above information prompted me to post this question hoping to get some valueble information.

There are bunch of people in this country who are doing very well in their proffessional life. Their job and their business travel schedule all over the world easily costs them 14-15 hours a day and most of time they need to work over the week end. They are holding senior management position in their respective organizations. For many of them it is unrealistic to resign the job and go back to school to learn German or learn the language on the job as their job does not require any German skills at all.

Every one wants to learn German language and people have high respect for this language but the reality is, it is impossible as long as they are doing their job. Obviousely I am refering to people with aforesaid profile. Definitely if such people can get citizenship, their life will be lot better as they do not have to take a visa for each and every country they visit. From a proffessional point of view, it will help them a lot if they get citizenship.

I am sure most of these people(atleast whoever I have met with, have the same opinion) will go back to their native country once their proffessional career in Germany ends without taking any undue advantage of the citizenship.

From an integration perspective, they are well integrated and most of their friends are highly educated German families with whome you are never going to have a language issue. Where is the opportunity to learn the language?

Hope I tried to clarify.

Thanks.
B

Changing citizenship is a big step, particularly with countries where dual citizenship is not allowed. The language requirement, is not very high, but it is there for a reason, the big lesson of the last 50 years is that even if people come to a Germany thinking that they will leave later, reality normally takes over. After a certain number of years it becomes really difficult to leave! Children, buying a house, the culture shock back home, not having the right to just return to the home country or not finding equivalent positions ... becoming German makes a return less, not more likely.

So yes, today a high achiever could have a busy schedule, but what about tomorrow when there is a car crash? Or some petty incident on the street, or a recession, where the only jobs available are in small, remote german companies... or, god forbid, when having to deal with the German bureaucracy.

I think it is worth making the effort. After a number of years here people tend to know more German than they think they do, but they are perhaps a bit insecure. The best would be to register for a test and see what level you have.
Not only will these remove the fear but perhaps the language gap won't be as big as you think. This test can be repeated as often as desired and only the last successful certificate needs to be used.

Cheers,
-a

I reAd the einburgerungs document and no such exception exists unless you are an exception and I don't know about those exceptional circumstances .

till 12-2008 in some places German nationality can be applied without exam, but the person need to prove the German proficiency by reading news paper or some article etc

Getting passport is a big decision and if someone have relocated to a different country with German passport needs to communicate with German embassy / authorities. I strongly recommend at least to have B1 German proficiency level..

by the way Did anyone tried to show their German passport to Germans wit out German proficiency ;)

Balu,

I totally agree with your example.I am in the similar boat.

Infact Germany will get lot of money if they offer citizenships to these high prof. guys.

If such as aperson is working here for 10 years their rente contribution itsself will be 60000 Euros.

Which they will claim later and if they become German then they cannot do that.

so its in the benifit of of Germany that they shall offer these guys German citizenship.

Balu,

When I submitted my application I did not have a B1 language certificate. I joined a language school to take the B1 exam. In the mean time, I received a letter from the Ordnungsamt that did not include the language certificate in the list of missing documents required to process my application. They only asked for the einburgerungstest (I'm waiting for the result still) and the loyalty declaration. In fact when I mailed the office to ask if I should register for the exam, they asked me to wait till I got the "missing documents" letter. After seeing that the language certificate was not needed, I did not register for the exam.

I spoke pretty good German with the person when I handed in my application. I don't know if that helped.

So the answer to your question is YES, you don't need B1 certificate, but it depends on the office processing your application.

hope that helps...

R.

PS: will post a brief account of my experience in the forum when I successfully get through the application process...

Hi,
first I also side with the thinking that one should be able to communicate properly in the adopted country before going for it's nationality.

2nd, yes it's possible to apply with out B1 but in this case it completly depends upon your case officer to accept the application or not. Just last month a friend of mine (who speaks pretty fluent German) applied for nationality and his papers were accepted with out any problems.
The only thing is that he works in a well esteblished organization and earns around 80K annually.

Regards