Five years of lawful residence, B1 German, and you keep the passport you were born with. We turn your years of records into one clean naturalisation file, and a licensed German immigration lawyer signs it.
The 2024 reform changed German citizenship more than any change in a generation: the residence requirement came down, and dual nationality became the norm rather than the exception. What it did not do is make the paperwork easier. Naturalisation is the one application where your entire history in Germany is the evidence, and where a two-month gap in a permit eight years ago can move your date. It is also not the only door: if a parent or grandparent was German, you may already be a citizen by descent, with nothing to earn at all.
Nurse in Leipzig, eleven years in Germany, convinced she had to give up her Philippine passport. She did not. What she did have was fourteen months on a student permit that she had counted and the office would not. We found the real date, built the file to it, and a lawyer signed it.
The general rule since the 2024 reform, reduced from eight. What counts is lawful residence on a qualifying permit, and the years rarely line up as neatly as people expect — time on the wrong permit, or a gap between two, can quietly move your date.
Spouses follow their own, shorter track, with its own conditions about how long you have lived here and how long you have been married. We work out which clock applies to you rather than assuming the general one does.
The single biggest change of the reform. Germany now generally permits dual nationality, so naturalising no longer means renouncing the passport you were born with. Your other country may take its own view, which we check before you file.
Spoken and written, evidenced by a certificate your office accepts. Some long-resident groups, including the guest-worker generation, have eased requirements. Buying the wrong exam is a common and avoidable waste of a few hundred euros.
You must be able to support yourself and your dependants without relying on certain state benefits. This is the requirement the reform tightened rather than relaxed, and it is where applications most often fail. It is the first thing we look at.
The Einbürgerungstest on Germany's legal and social order, plus a declaration committing you to the free democratic basic order. Straightforward to prepare for, and not usually the obstacle.
Citizenship law changed in 2024 and is still settling. The figures above are the general rules as they stand; which of them applies to you, and whether a shorter route is open in your case, is confirmed by the licensed German lawyer who reviews and signs your application. We tell you your real qualifying date before you pay anything, including when it is later than you hoped.
Citizenship is the one application where your whole time in Germany is the evidence. Every permit, every renewal, every gap. We reconstruct the timeline from your documents and tell you the earliest date you actually qualify, not the one you hope for.
Payslips, tax assessments, pension contributions, and a clean position on state benefits. We assemble the financial picture the office wants to see and tell you plainly if there is a problem in it before you apply, not after.
The right certificate from a provider your office recognises, at the level it requires. We tell you which one to sit and which exemptions might already apply to you, so you do not pay for an exam you never needed.
Convictions can block naturalisation, though not every entry is fatal and some fall away with time. This is a judgment call, which means it is a question for the lawyer on your case and not for an AI.
A licensed German lawyer reviews and signs every step. You only open the case.
Send us your permit history, your income and your certificates. Our AI reconstructs your qualifying years and flags every gap, and a lawyer confirms whether you can apply now, later, or on a different route.
AI drafts the application, assembles the residence timeline, the financial evidence and the translations. A licensed German lawyer reviews each page and signs the file.
Naturalisation is slow and the office keeps its own calendar. You get a complete dossier and a tracked case. When the silence goes past what is reasonable, we know the legal tools that compel an answer.
You know what you need before you pay.
Lawyers work on prepared cases, not messy ones.
For naturalisation that means your years in Germany are reconstructed permit by permit before a lawyer signs off on your qualifying date.
Case is a case-preparation service, not a law firm. Our AI drafts and checks your documents, which is why we are fast. A licensed German immigration lawyer reviews and signs everything, which is why it holds. Nothing is filed without a lawyer's approval.
Since the 2024 reform, Germany generally allows dual nationality, so naturalising no longer means giving up the passport you were born with. Whether your other country allows it is a separate question, and one we check on your side too before you commit to anything.
The general rule since the 2024 reform is five years of lawful residence, down from eight. Spouses of German citizens and a few other groups follow their own rules. We count your qualifying years against your actual permit history, which is usually where people find they are closer, or further, than they thought.
B1 in both speaking and writing is the usual standard, evidenced by an accepted certificate rather than by conversation with the caseworker. Some long-resident groups have eased requirements. We tell you which certificate your office accepts before you pay for a course or an exam.
Yes, in most cases: the Einbürgerungstest on the German legal and social order, plus a declaration committing you to the free democratic basic order. Neither is difficult to prepare for, and neither is where applications usually fail.
Most often it is money, not language. You have to support yourself and your dependants without certain state benefits, and that requirement was tightened rather than relaxed by the reform. Gaps in your residence history and unspent convictions are the other two. We look at all three at the start.
No. Case prepares the case file. A licensed German immigration lawyer reviews it and provides the legal advice. Nothing is filed without a lawyer's approval.
Send us your permit history, your income and your certificates. Within one working day you get your qualifying date, your requirements and a fixed price. No obligation.
Last reviewed 22 August 2026. German immigration rules, salary thresholds and fees change, sometimes in the middle of a year, and local offices apply them differently from city to city. Anything below that date may have moved since.
This page is general information about German immigration law. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for advice on your own situation, and reading it does not create a lawyer–client relationship. The figures and deadlines on it have not been checked by a lawyer against your case.
Case is a case-preparation service, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice. Legal advice is given by independent licensed German immigration lawyers, who review and sign every file before it is submitted.
Found something out of date or wrong? Tell us and we will correct it: permanaharianja@gmail.com.