Documents needed
You will need usually:
- The German birth certificate of the original German ancestor (beglaubigte Abschrift aus dem Geburtenregister). You can request this at the civil registry office (Standesamt) of the municipality where the ancestor was born if the birth happened within the last 110 years. Older records are usually at a regional archive. Records from regions that were German at the time but are now outside of Germany (here a map) may be found at Standesamt 1 Berlin for records younger than 110 years and the Berlin state archive for older records (see this list of all records at the state archive - births are “Geburten”, marriages are “Heiraten”). Records may also be found in the respective archives of what is nowadays Poland, Czechia, Russia, Lithuania, France, Denmark, or Belgium.
- If your ancestor married in Germany: The German marriage certificate (beglaubigte Abschrift aus dem Eheregister). This can be requested from the civil registry office if the marriage happened within the last 80 years and at the archives after that.
- Proof that your ancestor was a German citizen. A German birth certificate does not prove German citizenship since Germany does not give citizenship to everyone who is born in the country. You can either get direct proof: An official German document which states that your ancestor was a German citizen, e.g. German passport (Reisepass), German ID card (Personalausweis since 1949, Kennkarte 1938-1945), population register (Melderegister). The only way to get the passport or ID card is if the original was preserved and is owned by your family. Resident registrations are available at the town hall (Bürgeramt) or city archive. Documents of other countries which state that someone is a German citizen can not be used as proof since Germany does not give other countries the power to determine who is or is not a German citizen. Since direct proof of German citizenship is often not obtainable, the authority that processes the applications also accepts as indirect proof of German citizenship if your ancestor is the descendant of a person who was born in Germany before 1914 and got German citizenship from that person. You prove this by getting the birth/marriage certificates from the relevant ancestor: From the father if the original German immigrant was born in wedlock, from the mother if born out of wedlock.
- Records from German archives/civil registry offices can usually be requested by email (in German - see this guide). They will often charge a fee of $10-$40 for sending you a certified copy. The fee can usually only be paid by bank transfer to a bank account in Germany (you can use wise.com for that). If you need help with requesting documents from German authorities: Get help here
- If your ancestor was born in Germany before 1904: Some proof that your ancestor emigrated after 1903 since your ancestor would usually have lost German citizenship otherwise due to living outside of the country for more than 10 years. This proof can be immigration records from the arriving country or ship records (Bremen, New York, Philadelphia).
- The naturalization certificate if the original German ancestor naturalized in their new country. Otherwise: A document which states that the original German ancestor did not naturalize (USA: see here).
- Birth, marriage and divorce certificates of everyone down the line (marriage and divorce certificates only for the marriage where your ancestors were married to each other, not for their marriages to other persons)
- Your birth certificate has to mention the municipality where you were born (US: If your birth certificate only has the county then you need either a “proof of birth letter” from the hospital or the long-form birth certificate that mentions the municipality - source)
- No death certificates are needed
- Your passport or ID card (USA: passport or driver’s license)
- If you got outcome 3, 4 or 5 in the guide: Your criminal background check (USA: get it here)
Certification and translation of documents
USA: No translation is needed for simple US documents like birth/marriage/naturalization certificates. No apostille is necessary, certified copies are enough. If you have a document only as original: You can get certified copies at one of the 9 German embassy/consulates or the 40 German honorary consuls or at your US Notary Public who has to certify that the copy is a true, correct and complete copy - see this list of US states where a Notary Public is allowed to certify a true copy. You send the certified copy as part of your application for German citizenship and keep the original.
Other countries: Get a certified copy at a notary (public) or at the German mission abroad.
It is important that it is certified that the copy is completely faithful to the original in terms of content. The original certification statement is required, including the notary’s or registry office’s original stamp and the original signature of the notary. Copies of certification statements or statements certifying only the translator’s signature are not sufficient.
As a rule, foreign public documents (such as civil status documents) are to be legalized or to carry a ‘Hague apostille’, except for civil status documents of EU member states and of Switzerland as well as international multilingual documents (certificates of birth, marriage certificates, death certificates) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey.
For information on the legalization process, contact your competent German mission abroad. They can also provide you with further information in which form (kind of certification) you may submit certificates of your home country.
Documents that are not in German have to be accompanied by a translation made by a sworn translator so that it is undoubtedly seen to which originals the translations belong.
https://www.bva.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Buerger/Ausweis-Dokumente-Recht/Staatsangehoerigkeit/Einbuergerung/Anspruch/Anspruch_Merkblatt_englisch.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=6
If you want to know where to get old German documents (like birth certificates) please ask r/GermanCitizenship and give us the birth year and location of your ancestor
Naturalization as a minor
USA: Minors usually get US citizenship when at least one of their parents naturalizes in the US (requirements here). No separate certificate of citizenship for the child is needed. None was issued prior to 1929 and after that (until today) one is issued only upon application. US citizenship for the child is proven through the naturalization certificate of the parent if the child did not get their own certificate of citizenship. The child usually does not lose German citizenship when it gets US citizenship through their parent and you should proceed based on the assumption that the child continued to be a German citizen. Go back to the main guide, the next chapter depends on the year in which the original German immigrant left Germany/married a foreigner/had a child with a foreigner (whichever is earlier): -> 1871-1903, 1904-1949, 1949-1974, 1975-1993, 1993 and later
Other countries: Did the German minor get the foreign citizenship automatically when their parent got the foreign citizenship - this means that the parent did not have to explicitly apply for their child to get the foreign citizenship?
yes: German citizenship was likely not lost, you should proceed based on this assumption.
no: German citizenship was lost if all of these conditions are met:
- the German minor naturalized as a citizen of another country after 1913
- the parents* of the German minor naturalized at the same time
- the parents* of the German minor explicitly applied for the minor to get the citizenship of the other country
*Replace “parents” with “father” if it happened before 29 July 1959. If only one parent has custody: Replace “parents” with “parent who had custody”.
Example story: Martin is born in 1949 as a German citizen to two German parents who move with him to Canada when he is four years old. His parents naturalize in Canada in 1961 when he is twelve years old and his father also applies for Martin to get Canadian citizenship. German citizenship is not lost because the parents had shared custody but only the father applied for Martin’s Canadian citizenship. If both parents had signed the application then Martin had lost German citizenship. Court decision: https://openjur.de/u/654630.html
If you are not sure if German citizenship was lost: Proceed based on the assumption that it was not lost and let the German authorities figure it out when you apply.
If German citizenship was not lost: Go back to the main guide, the next chapter depends on the year in which the original German immigrant left Germany/married a foreigner/had a child with a foreigner (whichever is earlier): -> 1871-1903, 1904-1949, 1949-1974, 1975-1993, 1993 and later
If German citizenship was lost and
- the minor who lost German citizenship is the original German ancestor: -> You are not a German citizen.
- the minor who lost German citizenship is you: Continue with the next chapters in the main guide to see if you get an outcome 2-5 for one of your ancestors. If yes: See that outcome. If no: -> outcome 6
- the minor who lost German citizenship is one of your other ancestors in the line: Continue with the next chapters in the main guide to see if you get an outcome 2-5 for one of your ancestors that preceded the minor who lost German citizenship. If yes: See that outcome. If no: -> You are not a German citizen.
Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/GermanCitizenship/comments/vvznd7/naturalization_as_a_minor_conflicting_advice_and/
Archives of consular registrations
Federal archive
Open this site: https://politisches-archiv.diplo.de/invenio/login.xhtml
Click “Suche ohne Anmeldung”, close the popup by clicking on the X on the top right side of the popup, click on the left side “3. Amtsbücher”, “AB 2 Matrikel und Passregister des Deutschen Reiches”, then on the bottom left side “AB 2 klassifiziert”, then choose your continent, choose your country, choose the city of the embassy/consulate. On the right side it will show under “Laufzeit” the years of each file, click on “Digitalsat anzeigen” to see the consular registrations in chronological order. Entries are written in Kurrent, see Wikipedia and the Kurrent subreddit.
Berlin state archive
See this list of records (PDF). Only “Deutsches Reich” records are useful since that was the name of Germany between 1871 and 1949. The records are not online and you can contact the archive to request a search here.
-> Go back to where you left in the main guide
Success rate
It is, statistically speaking, overwhelmingly unlikely that you will find records which show that your ancestors registered at the German consulate. Possible reasons: They wanted to integrate in their new country and had no intention to keep their German citizenship, there was no tangible benefit to keep German citizenship for them, they did not know that German citizenship could be lost due to living outside of Germany for 10 years or that losing German citizenship could be prevented by registering at the consulate, it took a long time to travel to the nearest consulate before cars were invented, or the record may have been destroyed in one World War or the other.
German dates
The application forms for German citizenship ask for countless dates. You can write them the long or the short way. Next to your signature you are asked for the location and date of your signature and there is a very specific way how to write that.
| short | long | location and date (Ort und Datum) |
|---|---|---|
| DD.MM.YYYY | ||
| 02.01.1877 | 2. Januar 1877 | London, den 2. Januar 2023 |
| 04.02.1901 | 4. Februar 1901 | Dubai, den 4. Februar 2023 |
| 06.03.1952 | 6. März 1952 | Hongkong, den 6. März 2023 |
| 08.04.1963 | 8. April 1963 | New York, den 8. April 2023 |
| 10.05.1974 | 10. Mai 1974 | Tokio, den 10. Mai 2023 |
| 12.06.1975 | 12. Juni 1975 | Moskau, den 12. Juni 2023 |
| 14.07.1976 | 14. Juli 1976 | Sydney, den 14. Juli 2023 |
| 16.08.1977 | 16. August 1977 | São Paulo, den 16. August 2023 |
| 18.09.1987 | 18. September 1987 | Toronto, den 18. September 2023 |
| 20.10.1992 | 20. Oktober 1992 | Johannesburg, den 20. Oktober 2023 |
| 22.11.2000 | 22. November 2000 | Seoul, den 22. November 2023 |
| 24.12.2007 | 24. Dezember 2007 | Mumbai, den 24. Dezember 2023 |
List with places of residence
| ideal | fallback | minimum |
|---|---|---|
| 1901-1925: Munich | 1901-1920s: South Germany | 1901-1930: Germany |
| 1925-1930: Berlin | 1920-early 1930s: Berlin | 1930-1975: USA |
| 1930-1949: New York | early 1930s-1950: US East Coast | |
| 1949-1954: Houston | a few years in the 1950s: Texas | |
| 1955-1976: Phoenix | around 1957-1976: Maricopa County |
Why is this even relevant: If your ancestor lived for a number of years abroad then they may have gotten the citizenship of that other country. This would have resulted in the automatic loss of German citizenship = German citizenship could no longer be passed down to the next ancestor who was born later. The Federal Office of Administration asks for the list with places of residence so that in case your ancestor lived for a longer time abroad, they can then ask for evidence if/when your ancestor got the citizenship of that country.
Write down the list with places of residence to the best of your knowledge. The Federal Office of Administration does not ask you to substantiate the list with documents but the list should match the other documents that you provide (e.g. birth and marriage certificates). Write down approximate years or ranges if you do not know the exact year. Write down the broader region if you do not know the municipality. It would be good if you would at least know the country where your ancestor lived from the time of birth until the next ancestor was born. Anything that your ancestor did after the next ancestor was born is less relevant since it could no longer have any effect on the citizenship of the next ancestor and you can also write “unknown” if you do not know where the person lived.
German A1 exceptions
You can bring your spouse to Germany if they either speak German level A1 or one of these exceptions apply (source: section 28 and 30 Residence Act):
- the spouse can’t learn German due to physical or mental illness
- learning German within one year is not possible or reasonable due to special circumstances of the individual case (here a court ruling that an illiterate spouse who lives in Afghanistan in a village without electricity was allowed to move to Germany without having to learn German first)
- the spouse’s need for integration is discernibly minimal. This is assumed in the case of spouses who have 1) a university or technical college degree or a corresponding qualification, or who are engaged in gainful employment that regularly requires such a qualification, and 2) if in the individual case the assumption is justified that the spouse will integrate into economic, social and cultural life in Germany without state assistance. The latter condition includes the examination of whether the living expenses of the foreign spouse can be met by him/herself or by the German spouse without the need to apply for government welfare, for example because the non-German spouse has a good knowledge of English and a profession where English-language jobs are available in Germany.
- or the spouse would, for other reasons, not be eligible for an integration course pursuant to section 44 Residence Act which is for example the case if the spouse already previously had a resident permit in Germany
Where to get help with your application
We are happy to answer all your questions and help you for free over at /r/GermanCitizenship. We encourage you to go through the process on your own. The application forms are all online and you can absolutely fill them out yourself.
There are still some applicants who search for someone who can put several hours of work in to help them with all aspects of the application. You can use the services of community members or of citizenship lawyers for that:
Paid help: Community members
u/staplehill, author of the guide to German citizenship, see my reviews: free initial consultation, $100 to find and contact German archives that have birth/marriage certificates of your ancestors. Once you get the documents: $300 to fill out the application forms, write a cover letter in German and guide you through the process +$100 for every additional family member who applies together with you. I accept Paypal. Contact me here
u/bullockss_: 5+ years German genealogy. Can assist with Feststellung, StAG 5/15 applications. Experience with getting US/Canadaian/German/Polish records. Initial consultation: free. $50 retainer, $150 for filling out applications, reviewing documents, writing a cover letter. Will contact the archives for you or look up their contacts and tell you what to write for a minimum $50. Will help you out with getting US naturalization documents etc. and proof of German citizenship. I accept Paypal, bank transfer, Etransfer (Canada only). Contact me here
/u/tf1064 (founder of /r/GermanCitizenship): free initial consultation - we’ll meet for 30 minutes via Google Meet and discuss your case, determine eligibility, and address any questions you might have. I can then outline the documents you need to obtain, help you obtain them, research your family tree on Ancestry.com and via other archives, fill out the application, etc. Also happy to investigate your family tree to see if you might be eligible for any other citizenships (not just Germany). $100 retainer includes the first two hours of work, then $50/hour after that, plus costs if requesting documents. Based in the San Francisco CA area.
Citizenship lawyers
We contacted German citizenship lawyers and asked them to give us an offer for a typical case (German great-grandparent), this was their answer:
Weinhardt Law: $4,000 to apply for one person, $1,000 for every additional relative that also applies for German citizenship
Holger Siegwart: $4,500 for one person, $1,500-$2,000 to include two additional relatives in the application depending on their location
Ellen von Geyso: $350 for an initial consultation to determine eligibility
Schlun & Elseven: €6,500 for three people
VPMK law firm: “Unfortunately, our capacities are exhausted at the moment. We regret to inform you that therefore we cannot offer assistance with your case”
We did not actually use any of these lawyers and can not review their service quality. We contacted them in July 2022. Their prices may have changed by now.
Ground rules for paid help
- Users offer to help you with your application for German citizenship. They do not offer legal advice and they do not guarantee that your application will be approved. Users agree that they will use personal information about you and your ancestors only to help you with the application, not for any other purpose.
- We recommend using only “Paypal Goods & Services” for payments if you want to have the option to to get your money back if the service is not as described. Using other payment options (including wise.com or “Paypal Friends & Family”) means that the money is effectively not recoverable since the means of recovery are more expensive than the money you paid.
- Review users after you have used their service here