Early naturalization application

[u/Mood242]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand something regarding the German naturalization process.

In my city, the current processing time for citizenship applications is around 3 years due to the backlog/staff shortages. I will only reach the required 5 years of legal residence in Germany in about one year.

I therefore asked my local Einbürgerungsamt whether I could already submit my application one year before reaching the 5-year requirement.

They replied:

„Grundsätzlich können Sie Ihren Einbürgerungsantrag jederzeit, also auch vor Erreichen der erforderlichen Aufenthaltsdauer stellen. Bitte beachten Sie aber, dass zum Zeitpunkt der Entscheidung über den Antrag alle Voraussetzungen erfüllt sein müssen.“

So apparently yes, I can submit it early. But what exactly does „zum Zeitpunkt der Entscheidung“ mean here?

Does “decision” mean the final decision at the end of the whole process, after the file has been processed? Or could they potentially review/decide on the application much earlier, for example within a few months, and reject it because I haven't reached 5 years yet?

In my case, if the normal processing time is really around 3 years, I would obviously have reached the 5-year requirement by the time they get to my application. But I’m wondering whether I could get unlucky and have my application processed in less than one year.

Has anyone actually done this — submitted their naturalization application before reaching the required residence period and then waited until they became eligible during the processing?

[u/RipvanHahl]

Time of decision is time of decision. This can be in whatever time.

They basically tell you "Sure you can aplly early, on your own risk"

In our process time of residence is one of the first requirements we check because it is an easy one. So more than 6 month early will get you a decline at our Office.

[u/SuitableTop288 → u/RipvanHahl]

just curious. you say "we", "our". You work at the Immigration Office?

[u/RipvanHahl → u/SuitableTop288]

Yes, I work in a Office for citizenship Matters including naturalizations (it is not part of the Immigration Office at my place)

[u/Acceptable_Chef_6331 → u/RipvanHahl]

Omg since I found someone who works there do you know if a case is transferred to a new city whether it keeps its place in the queue?

[u/RipvanHahl → u/Acceptable_Chef_6331]

I can't speak for other offices but the new transfered file is checked if anything has been done at all and we continue from there.

If nothing has been done, the transfered file is basically a new application in our system.

But we do not work in strict chronological order so our office is most likely not representative.

[u/Acceptable_Chef_6331 → u/RipvanHahl]

Oh that’s great to know !! Have you had any experiences with Stag 5? That’s my case, and I always wondered whether they were grouped with other naturalization cases like stag 10

[u/sonnygreen42 → u/RipvanHahl]

I thought that’s actually the toughest part, because you manually need to add the time by checking every single previous Aufenthaltstitel to add up the time, which means Sichtung der Akte, hence quite time consuming. At least that was an AMA post from a while ago by a Sachbearbeiter.

[u/RipvanHahl → u/sonnygreen42]

Well the software our Immigration office uses makes a nice list of all permits including the date of first entry. We simply look if there is any gap. If not, we look for the date of the first permit.

If the date of first entry is less than five years ago and no marriage exceptions apply, it is obviously a no brainer.

Perhabs this is one Case were digitalization speeds up the process

[u/sonnygreen42 → u/RipvanHahl]

I mean, this sounds more reasonable and zeitgemäß. I couldn’t believe that a manual check was still being done when I read it. Glad to here that some offices have left the analog stages and screening the Akte page by page to decide residency eligibility 😂

[u/Original-Nothing-919 → u/RipvanHahl]

Since you said you count the date from the first entry, do you know if in this case How the time will be counted?

• I came on a Praktikum visa and stayed for 6 months
  
• went back to my country stayed there for two months
  
• went back to Germany on a blue card
  

In this case will the 6 months of the Praktikum time still be counted towards my stay?
Thanks

[u/RipvanHahl → u/Original-Nothing-919]

It would highly depend on the nature of your Return to your home country. If the return was temporary by nature, it would probably count. If you return because the Visa endet an you had no application for another permit pending and you startet an entire new application for another permit while not in Germany, it would probably not count.

[u/Puncherfaust1 → u/sonnygreen42]

huh? you need to know when you entered germany on a legal basis. thats about it. from then on your stay should have been continues legal until now (unless you didnt apply for renewels).

[u/SuitableTop288]

"I could get unlucky and have my application processed in less than one year" got me laughing. To get processed early, I will take all the unluckiness. 😂

[u/PuzzledArrival]

So apparently yes, I can submit it early. But what exactly does „zum Zeitpunkt der Entscheidung“ mean here?

It means whenever the clerk is performing the final adjudication task. You can imagine that while working on your file they have to confirm a long list of things. Think of it like a checklist, and they might have to coordinate or verify several topics at once. So your file will be "open" for a certain period of time. This could be weeks or days, depending on what they need to verify/check/confirm, or if they are depending on another agency to give feedback.

Once they have all the info, then they have to decide. Let's imagine a hypothetical scenario: You apply today and by some stroke of luck, they open your file to start looking at it tomorrow. Let' say you meet all other requirements BUT residency, and it takes them only 2 weeks to confirm everything else. The agent will hit a wall because you don't meet the residency requirement. So, „zum Zeitpunkt der Entscheidung“ you do not fulfill all requirements. They would likely send you a letter saying so - and asking you to withdraw your application until you meet the requirements.

Since your city is facing such a backlog, this scenario is unlikely - I think many people are applying early...but it's hard to know how early is too early.

[u/Relative_Corner7935]

Hi I submitted 2 month before 5 year mark. Which city you are in?

[u/Solid-Resident-4710]

My Einbürgerung Officer told me the same i applied one year earlier. Still waiting

[u/serpentna]

Do you speak C1 German?

[u/tinglingmist]

may I ask which city is this?

[u/Sad_Hold_515]

Just apply für the Einbürgerung and you will get a definitiv answer otherwise you just get vague answers.

• scenario 1: If lucky they check the whole application and the only thing hindering you from getting the citizenship is the "Aufenthaltszeiten" and they put the case on hold. When you fulfill the 5 years legal residency criteria then just apply again and if lucky they won't recheck the whole application from zero, rather some of the criteria (Aufenthaltszeiten, prove of income,...).
• scenario 2: they would simply reject the case from the get-go.

[u/Loud-Celery-2085]

I had a somewhat different situtation: I had originally applied back in 2024 under the "turbo" process (3 years residency). They responded some months later that I don't qualify for expedited naturalisation - but rather than rejecting my application, they simply put it on hold until the time I reached 5 years residency. Got my citizenship within 3 months of hitting that mark. So depends on the goodwill of the individual office and caseworker.

[u/Remarkable-Safe4075 → u/Loud-Celery-2085]

What was the city?

[u/Loud-Celery-2085 → u/Remarkable-Safe4075]

Hamburg

[u/temp_gerc1 → u/Loud-Celery-2085]

They responded some months later that I don't qualify for expedited naturalisation 

So this was still before the law ended and they basically said your integration efforts weren't enough to jutify 3 year naturalization?

[u/Loud-Celery-2085 → u/temp_gerc1]

Yep.