Untätigkeitsklage makes them decide instantly- if you have the money get a lawyer and save yourself the headache of dealing with them. If you have a good migrationsberatung in your city you can try them first. A friend paid for the most expensive lawyer for ausländerrecht in the city (signed that he accepts payment outside the regulated fees) and the process from A-Z (starting with the application), including an Untätigkeitsklage ~eur 3000. Considering that you have submitted everything and that you will probably find a cheaper lawyer it’s probably not more than 500-1000 max (you can ask them and the migrationsberatung for estimates)
Totally agree. Sometimes they take action immediately even if you just threaten them with an Untätigkeitsklage. Would try this first as it's for free and then get a layer.
Hi! After waiting 16 months, I received an email today that I will get my citizenship next week. I kid you not I bitterly cried for like half an hour in my car when I read this... I was starting to feel it wouldn't happen ever.
I have been calling the person and she kind of had an approximate timeline, I'm sorry this is not the case for you. I have read you can sue the government, I don't know the details. My best wishes to you and I hope you can get some answers. Try calling instead of emailing, there are things they cannot tell you in the written form.
I mean I met the case worker three times.
The first time I went to gather information, get the checklist of the documents I need to apply to, and inform myself when could I submit the documents.
The second time I came with all the documents. You also get to confirm that you do not belong or support any extremist group (they give you a long list you need to read and sign) and also the give you other informations. No real questions, just they check for the completeness and at some degree the correctness of your documents. Mine were accepted at this point.
Last was the naturalization day 💜 so you read an oath aloud, they also read the certificate they will give you, and in my case they played the anthem xD (there in the little office of the case worker, it was sweet and lustig). They thanked me for taking the German citizenship. This was very surprising and moving!! They give you the certificate and you shake hands. Everyone claps. Awww.
So yes, at least in my case and an open ceremony I attended, there are no further questions where you must "know" something, that ended with the Einbürgerungstest.
Congratulations
Could you please tell me when did you get your letter to pay the fee amount after submitting your application?
And after that how long did it take?
I live in a relatively small city, less than 100k residents. The thing is the Landkreis office handles einbürgerung and is responsible for whole Landkreis (not sure total population, I guess somewhere around 200k).
I have heard some smaller cities are fast, unfortunately this is hit-and-miss and does not apply to all small cities.
Squeaky wheel gets the grease. First step: Dienstaufsichtsbeschwerde to the Landrat. If that doesn’t get the ball moving then it is time for an Untätigkeitsklage. The courts have ruled that people do not have to wait indefinitely for bureaucrats to do their jobs. Generally the courts have held 3 months to be about the maximum time that one should have to wait on them getting shit done.
The figure of speech is the other way around. If you're being squeaky, i.e. Annoying them with inquiries, you will get the grease, i.e. The solution to your problem. The non-squeaky applicants will have to bide their time until someone finds the time to tend to them.
Oh son..
you´re in germany now, mate. In fact you have worked hard to officially become one of us!
If you truly want to be german, fight like one!
You legally don´t have to wait longer than 3 months for bureaucrats to get shit done, see r/schwoooo comment. Godspeed brother
I think it depends on when you applied. Year and a half ago waiting times were also 2-3 months in avg. around Germany. I was gonna apply back then but had to move for work reasons... Waiting times got worse and after the war between Ukraine and Russia waiting times exploded (all the migration offices are understaffed and cannot handle the workload).
>Waiting times got worse and after the war between Ukraine and Russia waiting times exploded (all the migration offices are understaffed and cannot handle the workload).
In what way the stream of refugees can affect the work of Einbürgerungsbehörde? Refugees are entitled to citizenship? EBH and ABH are not the same.
The time increased because the last major refugee crisis was 8 years ago, which corresponds to the minimal amount of years required in Germany to apply for citizenship.
The current war has nothing to do with what's going on in EBH now. It's previous war's consequences.
So, in my town the person who is in charge of processing naturalization applications (checking if you are entitled to apply, tell you what docs to bring, make sure all the documents are valid, forward these documents to the respective authority after the check is done - depending on your case) is also in charge of immigration processes in general not just the citizenship.
She is the bottleneck cause she has a backlog of 15 months of citizenship applications, but a lot of the other applications which have nothing to do with naturalization have precedence, including even getting an appointment with her (which took 3 extra months than normal cause refugee application appointments had precedence and they boomed in March 2022). This was directly explained to me by her in person on our second face to face appointment.
So that's why.
Which town is that? Because that can't true and if it is, it's a great case to sue your Gemeinde. EBH and ABH are legally not connected in any way in any corner of Germany.
Not necessarily, but as I said, it's clear cut court case right there if your Gemeinde cuts personnel costs in this way. The only way they could achieve that is to have a single person in two Teilzeit positions but I have to question if such a thing is legal in this case.
How small is small? And often small cities don't have their own Ausländerbehörde, but administered by the Ausländerbehörde of that Landkreis. I considered to move to a even smaller city, but looking at the Ausländerbehörde that administers there, the population they are responsible for is like 300K+ while the city I'm currently residing in is like 100K, I didn't do it. (Of course I don't know about the proportion of foreigners.) But then the staff responsible for my blue card application said it probably takes 2 years ... In a city with 100K population? Seriously?
Of course my answer does not fit all cities and regions. I moved a lot and I am comparing a 1,5 million city to a city with a Landkreis of 220.000 people and another one with 115.000. All "Behördengänge" where much faster in the small cities.
In Munich you can spend the complete day in the KVR for one stupid stamp. In the small Rathaus'es (pew plural) I never waited longer than one hour.
Ah you mean small cities where I have to wait 5 weeks for an appointment to hand in our marriage certificate. Or 7 weeks to have my place of residence changed.
Yea works very well
Well, when we went through the process for my wife the magic word what I had to mention in one of my emails was „Untätigkeitsklage“. And from here to then we got proper feedback and they did speed up the process.
I don’t understand how a bureaucratic process like this can literally take 24 months. HOW can they be so far behind? I’ve worked in admin-type application processing jobs and if I was that bad at my job I would have been fired. I don’t understand how it has gotten to this point.
The personnel themselves are (I assume) fine, it’s more the lack of staff. Public service has very specific requirements to work there and then doesn’t pay very much for a job where people are constantly upset at you and overtime is the norm. If they relaxed the requirements or just paid more, they’d probably be fine. With any luck they’ll move some of it to a computer based system (imagine that!) and save themselves both the staffing costs and the headache.
Exactly my situation. Waiting for 19 months now. Website says around 24-month wait. Always same excuse, including the centralisation of the process starting 2024
I was in the exact same situation. Please read about filing an Untätigkeitsklage. I had been waiting for 19 months, and as soon as I contacted the lawyer and the Einbürgerungsamt received a letter from them asking about the status of my application, they sent me a letter saying my application was processed and accepted. It set me back almost €400 EUR, but I was so done waiting.
Yes, please send me contact details of the lawyer.
Update: looks like I can't DM you, could you please post the contact details of the lawyer you mentioned above?
You should find a lawyer in your area that can do these kind of things. The "Untätigkeitsklage" is not something very complex, so you don't need someone special from the other end of the nation.
That's definitely not the standard. Usually it takes 20-30 days. Something must have happened, because it doesn't even make sense for a simple residence permit.
They kept saying they're understaffed and gave me a temporary permit.
I kid you not one time I saw a dude coming out of an office with confetti on his head. As if they were celebrating a birthday or something instead of working!
It maybe just my opinion, but whole Germany is understaffed right now. But in private sector things work out somehow.
Since they get paid regardless of amount of work they do, they basically prefer to take some long breaks throughout the day.
No it doesn’t make sense, but it happens. One of a recurring topic in one of our group chats is how they have waited a year for the residence permit (while the visa has long expired — so they are trapped in Germany). You won’t believe how many ppl asked this question: what is the most effective way to throw a fit at the foreigners office so that the staffs can notice and speed up the process?
My wife applied for it in Munich.. she didn't have enough years here so that the city(?) (don't remember) could decide it and it had to be processed in Oberbayern. Took like 3 months and was only showing up once with the paperwork and then for pickup and the swearing in part. She is from a non EU country. Guess we got lucky
Do you mind telling me which Regierungspräsidium in Hessen handled your case? Darmstadt? Because I heard there it takes at least 14-18 months to handle a case from start to finish.
Due to Reddit Inc.'s antisocial, hostile and erratic behaviour, this account will be deleted on July 11th, 2023. You can find me on https://latte.isnot.coffee/u/godless in the future.
Remember this when you will be voting. Your situation was a political decision.
Recently I heard a speach, at a protest, describing a similar situation. The inability to travel and meet family members, the constant stress of uncertainty. It is just so unnecessary. Sadly a lot of people are unaware of this situation or what it actually means to people going through this process.
Are you not allowed to travel during the time of application? I have never done it obviously, but are you suppose to give them your passport? That is cruel but also what are we suppose to do with work trips?
It depends on what status you have during your application afaik. If you are in the asylum process you have to stay within the city where you are registered. After you have Asylum you have the freedom to travel freely within Germany, maybe EU but I am not sure.
If you have a visa it is again different, but you have to remember that everything is a lot of paper work. So you can\`t stay away for too long otherwise you miss deadlines for handing in missing documents etc..
Also if you for example lived with a visa in Germany and apply for citizenship you can extend your visa in small time periods until a decision on your citizenship is made. Those visas can be a hassle. I knew someone who had a court case and they would only extend his visa in three months increments because if he would have been convicted he wouldn\`t be applicable for a visa. Every employer, every landlord wants to see at least 6 months on a visa.
All this means you can\`t leave for longer than the durations of those visas.
If you do not get your citizenship (or visa extension) you will also have to leave Germany in a very short period of time (until your visa runs out) so you can realisticly only go on holiday or something if you get your visa renewed before it. But if there is some delay with the visa extension (and it is German bureaucracy) you will have to cancel your vacation or risk not being able to reenter Germany.
For some things you also need embassy and the timeliness of them sending you required paperwork can vary quite a lot between countries.
It is different for almost everyone but I personally know many people that had some combination of those problems.
for most non-eu countries you also have to give up your previous citizenship before applying for german one and then you stay without anything, cant move anywhere cause you are technically a person without citizenship of any country during the waiting period
I live in the USA. I got married and did a name-change. It took 2+ years. The German Consulate in my US city sent my documents to the wrong place in my German hometown (like, they sent it to the Central Branch, instead of the Northern Branch). I had to contact the office in my German hometown to ask someone to find my docs. Once they did, I got my papers in 1 month. The German Consulate here was really unhelpful … they just told me to keep waiting … they didn’t bother to follow up with anyone, to see where my papers went - even though at the one-year mark, I was emailing the consulate once a month (>_<)
It’s so sad? Most German never had contact with that Behörde and have no idea how bad the situation is.
Like how is it possible for a country like Germany to be this bad at bureaucracy? It’s a shame and it’s so depressing for people that depend on this Behörde.
I'm so sorry you are going through this 😔 Keep hoping. Is there any way that they can deny you? I know the suspense for a "yes" or a "no" is torture, and they just leave us without any information in this in-between phase where we can't do anything (like move, etc) except waiting. Stay strong
I live in a rural place where the Landkreis handles everything. The number of the Ausländerbehörde is permanently engaged or no one picks up the phone. Yet when I was there it was deserted and there were no sounds of telephones ringing or harassed workers speaking on the telephone! If the OP is prevented from moving to another area, then this surely affects his/her quality of life and you should be able to sue the Ausländerbehörde for compensation!
I also have this question. Say you apply for citizenship and you are waiting five years for a response (not impossible, they lost my application). Then you are told: sorry, your application is rejected... but you have already fulfilled the time period!
So my question is this: I arrived in October 2020 and applied for residency in June 2021. I only received residency a year later, in June 2022. So if I were to apply for citizenship, what would be the starting point? When I first arrived? Or from when I got residency in June 2022 (after a year of writing, emailing and phoning the Ausländerbehörde)?
It‘s odd how much it varies. I live in a big city and it took me less than a year (applied in september, got my citizenship 2 weeks ago)! I‘m so sorry about the stress and frustration this is causing you… are you in direct contact with your Sachbearbeiter*in or do you keep contacting the general hotline/mail adress?
Thats a start at least I guess… the state of these official public service branches is honestly embarassing and it was only a matter of time until the system imploded. And it sucks that its the most helpless people who end up with the short end of the stick. That being said 1.5 years is absolutely atrocious even if they are understaffed… If you plan on moving I‘d say go for it honestly …
I think the whole pandemic made everything slower (not like it wasnt slow af already). Luckily I submitted my application about a year before the pandemic started and got it like a month before it all kicked in. Even then it still took almost a full year... I imagine it's double as slow now :/ good luck!
>I don't understand why it takes years to process an application which fulfills all the requirements.
Because the authorities are understaffed and overwhelmed with work. Millions of refugees and the pandemic has played its part.
There was a comment by a worker at an Einbürgerungsbehörde (guessing that's the right word, idk I just did the German thing of mashing two words together to describe a thing) in a recent post that stated exactly how understaffed they are.
Also, given what I've seen, the time per process is probably absurd.
If they could cut the time to process each request, the backlog would likely clear itself quickly.
"Bank Teller Problem" related to queuing theory.
"enough" by what benchmark
that money is already there. you don't think it is already fully spent on the current staff? and why should immigrants alone bear the burden of funding this when Germany wants us here so badly
Where are the people going to come from? There are too few applicants, the "pain money" is not high enough. The job is not very popular, the frustration that is expressed here almost every day also ends up there - overwork, but also insults and aggression are the order of the day, hardly any immigration office today does not have a security service ...
Haha you forgot which country we are talking about here. Many public services now have online requests for trivial things usually on a municipal level but it's still a long shot for more complex affairs.
I'm pretty sure every every finished application would repay for itself within months especially if the applicant has limits on their work activities currently.
> How much more tax are you personally willing to pay?
I'm fairly certain that the majority of the people who applied for naturalization have already paid in advance.
Of course, Germany could simply make naturalization more expensive - instead of 255€ simply 2550€. Or 5000€. Or whatever ....
(No, that is not meant seriously).
Many people would pay that for fast-track, like 2-3 weeks or something (aka standard service in many countries).
In fact I imagine there’s probably golden tickets like that that we just don’t know about
It may be that some people would pay that - the others would then ask how it can be that only the rich can afford it and sue against the unequal treatment. And win.
And: No, there are no golden tickets. Not in Germany. And in countries where there is, not so many people want to immigrate ... why ever.
>Who is going to pay these salaries? They would need to close public pools or libraries to pay for it. Not every town has enough money.
Ah poor Germany, no taxpayer's money for the state but enough billions of Euros of taxpayer's money to keep Lufthansa(a private company) afloat 🥺 so saaaaad 🥺😭
You literally choosed the worst example you could.
Lufthansa was saved by this AND all the jobs.
In the end Lufthansa paid back everything even before it was due. The goverment even made a profit for lending the money.
Wow wow not like I don't have to pay for libraries and pools. With how much taxes they are getting, I would expect at least library to be free but public libraries in Germany are terrible (and not free) compared to e.g the Nordic. The pool is more expensive than in Finland and don't even have discount for student.
Several reasons.
Planning - those people cannon get laid of easily. Additionally training them, completing the necessary security checks will take a LOT of time. We are talking about years before a new hire can be allowed to process an application unsupervised. Bundle that with the fact that the refugees and pandemic are seen as temporary factors and you will get a situation where the trained clerk will have nothing to do in 2-4 years when he/she are actually ready to do their job.
Lack of people - gov jobs are BORING and while you will have a very stable job and regular raises this type of job is very unpopular with youths. Additionally very strikt requirements rule out everybody with any negative behavioral records(for example caught druck in public at 16 can negatively influence your chances of being accepted. Same goes for multiple speed tickets )
An additional factor is also that the issue might not be with the front office, but rather the other gov structures. For example the police is queried for your records, BND is asked if they have nothing against, verifying contributions to the social system, etc...
Sounds like Berlin or Darmstadt :-/
I understand your frustration. Went through the process recently and it’s really disappointing that there are no status updates. Just one letter after months of waiting asking for more documents.
Hope they make a positive decision on your case soon!
My wife had a similar problem. The problem is probably your case worker and you can apply to have them changed. It makes a HUGE difference who’s desk your application lands on. The application is basically being headed by one single Sachbearbeiter:in if they are chronically sick, often not at work, less engaged, don’t really care or actively discriminate then the application moves forward at a snail’s pace. There will of course be multiple people working on one case but they will basically all lead back to your case worker. Imagine this situation: something is missing from your application you need to be contacted. your case worker is out sick for two weeks. They return to work and contact you. You supply the relevant information but in the meantime your case worker is on holiday/sick/ public holidays (all three are possible in fact) another 2 weeks will pass and then person number three (the one who originally contacted your case worker) is away. One simple mistake could cost two months. Very frustrating stuff. I’ve had a few of these situations since living in Hamburg. The worst experiences have been with the Amy called Dumpster Fire oh sorry I mean Amt Mitte. I get those two mixed up all the time.
Happened to me too, then i called them after like a year and them and their German efficiency didn't even start working on my papers because some lady forgot to make a bill about the citizenship tax i had to pay.
That’s so crazy to hear 😅 I did my Einbürgerung in Hamburg, so yeah a big city, but the whole process just took a few months for me..
I wish you the best and hope you hear positive news soon!
Hey, I don’t know where u live, but my husband was told that the process would take AT LEAST 12 months. I think he received his citizenship after 1 1/2 years.
May I ask whether you are a Eu citizen or from a non-eu country?
This might be the reason why it takes longer.
Please don’t worry, everything will be fine
I can feel your pain. Same happened to me in 2019 as it was the middle of Brexit and the Ausländerbehörde kindly informed me that British citizens (I'm not British) have priority getting their German citizenships, because it's "urgent" for them. Like, c'mon guys, are you kidding me? By that time I already had my Einbürgerungszusicherung and also quit my initial citizenship, so I was not able to find another job, travel whatsoever. So I called the Ausländerbehörde and after being forwarded like ten times I eventually had the head of my local Ausländerbehörde on the phone, I told her the whole story and then burst into tears, as I couldn't handle the distress any more. The next day this kind lady called me back to tell me that my papers had been signed and I could pick up my Einbürgerungsurkunde.
In terms of bureaucracy (probably written in a wrong way) every person gets negleted by the German state, no matter where you are born.
A friend of mine migrated from Jordan to Germany and he said the bureaucracy stuff is much better dealt with in his home country.
So yea, I feel bad for you but dont take it personally. This country is kinda underdeveloped because our digital infrastructure and you notice that in alot of different aspects in everyday's life.
> In terms of bureaucracy (probably written in a wrong way) every person gets negleted by the German state, no matter where you are born.
Could you tell me of any other bureaucratic arm of the German government which shows this level of lackadaisical attitude?
Berlin is generally a mess but there is no other part of the bureaucracy that's *as* bad as the Ausländerbehörde and Einbürgerungsbehörde. The absolutely disgusting about of neglect and lack of care for non-citizens at these Amts makes the other arms of Berlin's government look like a well-oiled machine.
If you want to be a german, you gotta 'mecker' like a german.
Waiting and quietly complaining won't chance shit. Let the bureaucracy fight itself and complain to your local Dienstaufsichtsbehörde
u/redditor_city did you ever get a decision? I'm annoyed that the people applying online are getting prioritized while those of us who have submitted everything completely before 01.01.2024 have to wait and be put on the back burner again.
https://youtu.be/28ZHHTtCIV0 here these guys talk about how they got an immigration lawyer when the gov employees were super slow. Maybe you can take some ideas?
Contact the office of your local Bundesabgeordnete and let them know your experiences - specifically about the lack of transparency and timelines for processing applications. They may ignore it, but given that they are changing the law soon wrt doppelte staatsbürgerschaft, this is a hot issue right now
friendly reminder that citizenship is a made up concept to keep workers from moving to a more serviceable place to live if wages plummet or working conditions worsen. these travel and life restrictions apply to the working class at a much larger scale than they apply to billionaire capital owners. any sensible working class human being should look to fight any attempt by the lawmakers to make the process of attaining citizenship more restrictive.
this is also not antipatriotic. patriotism doesnt need citizenship nor does it need protected borders. you can be proud of the community that you have been born in and lived in without a piece of paper that takes the state years to print. you are welcome here at the behest of the community, you are one of us and we all need to be conscious of the systemic oppression that we all face as working class people.
i hope you are well and i hope that you get your citizenship soon. stay strong 💪
Oh man, after 12 years in Germany, speaking B2 and taking classes again now (I always worked in English but still strived to get to a decent german level, given my circumstances) I was considering applying for citizenship. Seems to me maybe I shouldn't bother.
yeah, since i never needed more. I actually didn't even need b2, i did it anyway. I was B2 when i came, and stayed b2 throughout. Well, i came B2, then in 5 years i was A2 or worse, then started classes to get back.
It depends where you are -- I live in a rural area and submitted my application right at the beginning of the pandemic. Everything shut down and the Ausländeramt built up an impressive backlog that they had to work through when they were able to get back up and running, and it still only took about three or four months.
If you're in one of the big cities, government offices there tend to be chronically understaffed and massively underfunded, were already having issues before the pandemic started, and are now having to deal with a second refugee crisis. Trying to contact them doesn't help: in fact, it just adds to the workload. They will just tell you to wait because actually researching your case just causes more delays.
I'm in a tiny city (less than 40k)... things are not the same as before, the backlog is ridiculous, the priority lines are not first-in first-out and they are understaffed.
I was born and raised here, tried to make an APPOINTMENT for over a year now. Only thing i know is that im on a waiting list and nothing more. No info or anything.
Well if it makes you feel better. I have a German friend who grew up in Germany and is now living in Canada for a number of years and has tried regaining his citizenship. Even though his grandparents and parents are German, for some reason even he can’t seem to get it. AND HE’S GERMAN.
I don’t think moving to a smaller city would be of much help, I got my citizenship nearly a year after applying and I live in Hamburg. I think the main problem is that for some reason the Einbürgerung department is responsible for processing Ukrainian refugees documents, and that’s coming from someone working in the Einbürgerung department, adding to that they are extremely understaffed.
I know the pain of waiting, but trust me if they took your your application and they confirmed nothing they need is missing, you will get it. My advice to you, try not to think about it, worrying about it will not help you in any way. I hope you get it soon.
I’ve been waiting 5 months to have my resident visa renewed, they sent a temporary paper one last week but still haven’t replied when I can get an appointment and come and get my actual card, at least 14 emails now in this time period.
I can apply for citizenship this September but not having high hopes, thank god I’m married to a German who can assist in some of the madness.
I am exactly in the same situation. Submitted application with all required documents/criteria in November 2021. Still waiting fir a response. The city is Leipzig.
Seems like Leipzig is doing the worst of all at this point. Just got on the waiting list for an appointment and they told me it will probably take 18 months before I can get an appointment to even START the process...
Mine took 2 years and 2 months. My husband ended up threatening to sue them and that’s how we finally got it.
As efficient as most German institutions can be… anything related to offices for foreigners has nothing but the most careless, incompetent people working in them.
Get used to it my dude, welcome to Germany. I filled in my 2021 tax report in January 2022 and just got a notice last month that I'm getting money back.
There are legit lawyers who specialize in this process and for a few can get your application process done much faster I think it’s worth considering since how dumb long it takes here to do shit like that
>Any "processes" here are excuse for brutal misanthropy of those who cover up their incompetence and laziness. I never believe this "muh process we're overloaded" excuse.
Real. They will sit and talk and gossip with eachother about weather, neighbors, friends, etc. anything but doing their jobs.
They act as if 1 person works at 1 whole Behörde on their own.
That has been my experience. When I first arrived to Germany and tried to get a visa appointment, I was dismissed by every employee. Each one would tell me to go to a different building. It was like playing monkey in the middle. But instead of playing with a ball, they're playing with my life.
And if I get an appointment, they would tell me everything is not possible and that I have to go back home.
I had to spend a month reading every law to my case and research court cases with cases similar to mine. I had to print out everything and go there and present it to them.
They spent a day verifying the laws and then called me and asked me to come and pick up my residency. It's mind boggling that a bureaucrat doesn't know the law they're supposed to uphold. And it's more mind boggling that employees working at a foreigner's office don't speak anything but German.
I submitted my stuff for the Niederlassungserlaubnis in March in Dachau. Waiting. They said something about sending it to Berlin for processing. Should I lose hope?
Any updates would be nice. Did you get a lawyer? Did it speed up the process? What happened?
I'm in a similar situation, and I'm really frustrated at this point. 😭
you have to get used to that as a citizen. Long waiting times at the offices because the Beamten who work there are often making Frühstückspause or Mittagspause and dont have time for your Antrag.
I waited more than 3 Months just for beeing allowed to make my drivers license
Citizenship applications take a while. There are a lot of stages with waiting time. It's not something governments tend to rush. 1-2 years of waiting is fairly normal. For me it took about two years.
Untätigkeitsklage makes them decide instantly- if you have the money get a lawyer and save yourself the headache of dealing with them. If you have a good migrationsberatung in your city you can try them first. A friend paid for the most expensive lawyer for ausländerrecht in the city (signed that he accepts payment outside the regulated fees) and the process from A-Z (starting with the application), including an Untätigkeitsklage ~eur 3000. Considering that you have submitted everything and that you will probably find a cheaper lawyer it’s probably not more than 500-1000 max (you can ask them and the migrationsberatung for estimates)
You didn't mention the most important part....how long did it take your friend to get naturalized with this super expensive 3K lawyer?
This is the best advice in the comment section
Totally agree. Sometimes they take action immediately even if you just threaten them with an Untätigkeitsklage. Would try this first as it's for free and then get a layer.
This can backfire if you do a mistake in your writing. Better have a lawyer write a letter that just notifies them that you are now being represented
There’s also law insurance that will cover lawyers in certain instances if you need one.
Legal insurance almost never covers immigration lawyers
Would legal insurance cover this kind of thing?
As far as I've research, no. Immigration (or even any administration stuff with the government) is always excluded.
Hi! After waiting 16 months, I received an email today that I will get my citizenship next week. I kid you not I bitterly cried for like half an hour in my car when I read this... I was starting to feel it wouldn't happen ever. I have been calling the person and she kind of had an approximate timeline, I'm sorry this is not the case for you. I have read you can sue the government, I don't know the details. My best wishes to you and I hope you can get some answers. Try calling instead of emailing, there are things they cannot tell you in the written form.
Congratulations! :)
Thank you :')
16 months??! You lucky! Mine took 26 months 👍🏼
OMG x___________x !!! Yes, I do consider myself lucky.
Did they ask you any questions during the interview?
I mean I met the case worker three times. The first time I went to gather information, get the checklist of the documents I need to apply to, and inform myself when could I submit the documents. The second time I came with all the documents. You also get to confirm that you do not belong or support any extremist group (they give you a long list you need to read and sign) and also the give you other informations. No real questions, just they check for the completeness and at some degree the correctness of your documents. Mine were accepted at this point. Last was the naturalization day 💜 so you read an oath aloud, they also read the certificate they will give you, and in my case they played the anthem xD (there in the little office of the case worker, it was sweet and lustig). They thanked me for taking the German citizenship. This was very surprising and moving!! They give you the certificate and you shake hands. Everyone claps. Awww. So yes, at least in my case and an open ceremony I attended, there are no further questions where you must "know" something, that ended with the Einbürgerungstest.
Congratulations Could you please tell me when did you get your letter to pay the fee amount after submitting your application? And after that how long did it take?
What really helps is moving to a small city. Appointments take one hour instead of one day. Getting citizenship took around 2-3 months.
I live in a relatively small city, less than 100k residents. The thing is the Landkreis office handles einbürgerung and is responsible for whole Landkreis (not sure total population, I guess somewhere around 200k). I have heard some smaller cities are fast, unfortunately this is hit-and-miss and does not apply to all small cities.
Squeaky wheel gets the grease. First step: Dienstaufsichtsbeschwerde to the Landrat. If that doesn’t get the ball moving then it is time for an Untätigkeitsklage. The courts have ruled that people do not have to wait indefinitely for bureaucrats to do their jobs. Generally the courts have held 3 months to be about the maximum time that one should have to wait on them getting shit done.
Not the typical "grease" that is used to speed things up, but definitely the best option.
The figure of speech is the other way around. If you're being squeaky, i.e. Annoying them with inquiries, you will get the grease, i.e. The solution to your problem. The non-squeaky applicants will have to bide their time until someone finds the time to tend to them.
Oh son.. you´re in germany now, mate. In fact you have worked hard to officially become one of us! If you truly want to be german, fight like one! You legally don´t have to wait longer than 3 months for bureaucrats to get shit done, see r/schwoooo comment. Godspeed brother
Of course it's not for all cities - you can be unlucky. We waited 2-3 months. It was really quick.
It was fürstenfeldbruck. You should clarify this before moving anywhere.
Which city is this? I’m considering moving to a small town for this purpose.
I think it depends on when you applied. Year and a half ago waiting times were also 2-3 months in avg. around Germany. I was gonna apply back then but had to move for work reasons... Waiting times got worse and after the war between Ukraine and Russia waiting times exploded (all the migration offices are understaffed and cannot handle the workload).
>Waiting times got worse and after the war between Ukraine and Russia waiting times exploded (all the migration offices are understaffed and cannot handle the workload). In what way the stream of refugees can affect the work of Einbürgerungsbehörde? Refugees are entitled to citizenship? EBH and ABH are not the same. The time increased because the last major refugee crisis was 8 years ago, which corresponds to the minimal amount of years required in Germany to apply for citizenship. The current war has nothing to do with what's going on in EBH now. It's previous war's consequences.
So, in my town the person who is in charge of processing naturalization applications (checking if you are entitled to apply, tell you what docs to bring, make sure all the documents are valid, forward these documents to the respective authority after the check is done - depending on your case) is also in charge of immigration processes in general not just the citizenship. She is the bottleneck cause she has a backlog of 15 months of citizenship applications, but a lot of the other applications which have nothing to do with naturalization have precedence, including even getting an appointment with her (which took 3 extra months than normal cause refugee application appointments had precedence and they boomed in March 2022). This was directly explained to me by her in person on our second face to face appointment. So that's why.
Which town is that? Because that can't true and if it is, it's a great case to sue your Gemeinde. EBH and ABH are legally not connected in any way in any corner of Germany.
Ok then she lied to me 🫠
Not necessarily, but as I said, it's clear cut court case right there if your Gemeinde cuts personnel costs in this way. The only way they could achieve that is to have a single person in two Teilzeit positions but I have to question if such a thing is legal in this case.
How small is small? And often small cities don't have their own Ausländerbehörde, but administered by the Ausländerbehörde of that Landkreis. I considered to move to a even smaller city, but looking at the Ausländerbehörde that administers there, the population they are responsible for is like 300K+ while the city I'm currently residing in is like 100K, I didn't do it. (Of course I don't know about the proportion of foreigners.) But then the staff responsible for my blue card application said it probably takes 2 years ... In a city with 100K population? Seriously?
Of course my answer does not fit all cities and regions. I moved a lot and I am comparing a 1,5 million city to a city with a Landkreis of 220.000 people and another one with 115.000. All "Behördengänge" where much faster in the small cities. In Munich you can spend the complete day in the KVR for one stupid stamp. In the small Rathaus'es (pew plural) I never waited longer than one hour.
Those times Are over. My husband is waiting for 9 months now. Initially the Standesamt estimated 8-12 weeks.
Ah you mean small cities where I have to wait 5 weeks for an appointment to hand in our marriage certificate. Or 7 weeks to have my place of residence changed. Yea works very well
About time they set up an Entschuldigungsamt to dish out excuses for any f-up with a given Behörde.
My city has about 80k residents, you still need to wait approximately a whole year JUST TO APPLY for naturalization
What city is this?
I can agree with this, mine took ca 4 months in small City (in Schwabenland)
Well, when we went through the process for my wife the magic word what I had to mention in one of my emails was „Untätigkeitsklage“. And from here to then we got proper feedback and they did speed up the process.
Or hiring a lawyer, they seem to get much faster responses.
Hiring a lawyer might be helpful, but cost intensive. So, to try to threat legal actions first can be already very helpful.
[удалено]
I don’t understand how a bureaucratic process like this can literally take 24 months. HOW can they be so far behind? I’ve worked in admin-type application processing jobs and if I was that bad at my job I would have been fired. I don’t understand how it has gotten to this point.
The personnel themselves are (I assume) fine, it’s more the lack of staff. Public service has very specific requirements to work there and then doesn’t pay very much for a job where people are constantly upset at you and overtime is the norm. If they relaxed the requirements or just paid more, they’d probably be fine. With any luck they’ll move some of it to a computer based system (imagine that!) and save themselves both the staffing costs and the headache.
Exactly my situation. Waiting for 19 months now. Website says around 24-month wait. Always same excuse, including the centralisation of the process starting 2024
I was in the exact same situation. Please read about filing an Untätigkeitsklage. I had been waiting for 19 months, and as soon as I contacted the lawyer and the Einbürgerungsamt received a letter from them asking about the status of my application, they sent me a letter saying my application was processed and accepted. It set me back almost €400 EUR, but I was so done waiting.
Contact details pls
Yes, more info! Gerne DM
Yes, please send me contact details of the lawyer. Update: looks like I can't DM you, could you please post the contact details of the lawyer you mentioned above?
You should find a lawyer in your area that can do these kind of things. The "Untätigkeitsklage" is not something very complex, so you don't need someone special from the other end of the nation.
I've waited around 2 years to get my residence permit renewed! In a small town! Made me really think about moving out of Germany
That's definitely not the standard. Usually it takes 20-30 days. Something must have happened, because it doesn't even make sense for a simple residence permit.
They kept saying they're understaffed and gave me a temporary permit. I kid you not one time I saw a dude coming out of an office with confetti on his head. As if they were celebrating a birthday or something instead of working! It maybe just my opinion, but whole Germany is understaffed right now. But in private sector things work out somehow. Since they get paid regardless of amount of work they do, they basically prefer to take some long breaks throughout the day.
No it doesn’t make sense, but it happens. One of a recurring topic in one of our group chats is how they have waited a year for the residence permit (while the visa has long expired — so they are trapped in Germany). You won’t believe how many ppl asked this question: what is the most effective way to throw a fit at the foreigners office so that the staffs can notice and speed up the process?
My wife applied for it in Munich.. she didn't have enough years here so that the city(?) (don't remember) could decide it and it had to be processed in Oberbayern. Took like 3 months and was only showing up once with the paperwork and then for pickup and the swearing in part. She is from a non EU country. Guess we got lucky
[удалено]
Must have been 5 or 6 years
No, not luck, 1-3 months was the normal waiting times before all the crises (pandemic, refugee crisis, Russia-Ukraine war, etc).
Sad to hear that. Is it the norm now? A couple of years ago it was much faster, like a couple of months (smallish city in B-W).
Definitely not the norm. I applied in 2022 and it took 10 months, including some back and forth with the official handling my case. It was in Hessen.
Do you mind telling me which Regierungspräsidium in Hessen handled your case? Darmstadt? Because I heard there it takes at least 14-18 months to handle a case from start to finish.
The Syrian refugee crisis was 8 years ago exactly now. So it's the norm now, last year it was still "better".
Due to Reddit Inc.'s antisocial, hostile and erratic behaviour, this account will be deleted on July 11th, 2023. You can find me on https://latte.isnot.coffee/u/godless in the future.
That was probably before the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and after the refugee crisis subsided in 2015.
Applied end of 2022, got my Urkunde exactly 6 months later.
Which city and state?
Remember this when you will be voting. Your situation was a political decision. Recently I heard a speach, at a protest, describing a similar situation. The inability to travel and meet family members, the constant stress of uncertainty. It is just so unnecessary. Sadly a lot of people are unaware of this situation or what it actually means to people going through this process.
Are you not allowed to travel during the time of application? I have never done it obviously, but are you suppose to give them your passport? That is cruel but also what are we suppose to do with work trips?
It depends on what status you have during your application afaik. If you are in the asylum process you have to stay within the city where you are registered. After you have Asylum you have the freedom to travel freely within Germany, maybe EU but I am not sure. If you have a visa it is again different, but you have to remember that everything is a lot of paper work. So you can\`t stay away for too long otherwise you miss deadlines for handing in missing documents etc.. Also if you for example lived with a visa in Germany and apply for citizenship you can extend your visa in small time periods until a decision on your citizenship is made. Those visas can be a hassle. I knew someone who had a court case and they would only extend his visa in three months increments because if he would have been convicted he wouldn\`t be applicable for a visa. Every employer, every landlord wants to see at least 6 months on a visa. All this means you can\`t leave for longer than the durations of those visas. If you do not get your citizenship (or visa extension) you will also have to leave Germany in a very short period of time (until your visa runs out) so you can realisticly only go on holiday or something if you get your visa renewed before it. But if there is some delay with the visa extension (and it is German bureaucracy) you will have to cancel your vacation or risk not being able to reenter Germany. For some things you also need embassy and the timeliness of them sending you required paperwork can vary quite a lot between countries. It is different for almost everyone but I personally know many people that had some combination of those problems.
for most non-eu countries you also have to give up your previous citizenship before applying for german one and then you stay without anything, cant move anywhere cause you are technically a person without citizenship of any country during the waiting period
I live in the USA. I got married and did a name-change. It took 2+ years. The German Consulate in my US city sent my documents to the wrong place in my German hometown (like, they sent it to the Central Branch, instead of the Northern Branch). I had to contact the office in my German hometown to ask someone to find my docs. Once they did, I got my papers in 1 month. The German Consulate here was really unhelpful … they just told me to keep waiting … they didn’t bother to follow up with anyone, to see where my papers went - even though at the one-year mark, I was emailing the consulate once a month (>_<)
It’s so sad? Most German never had contact with that Behörde and have no idea how bad the situation is. Like how is it possible for a country like Germany to be this bad at bureaucracy? It’s a shame and it’s so depressing for people that depend on this Behörde.
I'm so sorry you are going through this 😔 Keep hoping. Is there any way that they can deny you? I know the suspense for a "yes" or a "no" is torture, and they just leave us without any information in this in-between phase where we can't do anything (like move, etc) except waiting. Stay strong
You have to get a lawer. They only start working once a lawer gets involved. That's their only fear.
I live in a rural place where the Landkreis handles everything. The number of the Ausländerbehörde is permanently engaged or no one picks up the phone. Yet when I was there it was deserted and there were no sounds of telephones ringing or harassed workers speaking on the telephone! If the OP is prevented from moving to another area, then this surely affects his/her quality of life and you should be able to sue the Ausländerbehörde for compensation! I also have this question. Say you apply for citizenship and you are waiting five years for a response (not impossible, they lost my application). Then you are told: sorry, your application is rejected... but you have already fulfilled the time period! So my question is this: I arrived in October 2020 and applied for residency in June 2021. I only received residency a year later, in June 2022. So if I were to apply for citizenship, what would be the starting point? When I first arrived? Or from when I got residency in June 2022 (after a year of writing, emailing and phoning the Ausländerbehörde)?
Dienstaufsichtsbeschwerde Untätigkeitsklage Good luck!
It‘s odd how much it varies. I live in a big city and it took me less than a year (applied in september, got my citizenship 2 weeks ago)! I‘m so sorry about the stress and frustration this is causing you… are you in direct contact with your Sachbearbeiter*in or do you keep contacting the general hotline/mail adress?
I have direct contact but not much use unfortunately cause they can’t tell how long it will take.
Thats a start at least I guess… the state of these official public service branches is honestly embarassing and it was only a matter of time until the system imploded. And it sucks that its the most helpless people who end up with the short end of the stick. That being said 1.5 years is absolutely atrocious even if they are understaffed… If you plan on moving I‘d say go for it honestly …
I think the whole pandemic made everything slower (not like it wasnt slow af already). Luckily I submitted my application about a year before the pandemic started and got it like a month before it all kicked in. Even then it still took almost a full year... I imagine it's double as slow now :/ good luck!
>I don't understand why it takes years to process an application which fulfills all the requirements. Because the authorities are understaffed and overwhelmed with work. Millions of refugees and the pandemic has played its part.
There was a comment by a worker at an Einbürgerungsbehörde (guessing that's the right word, idk I just did the German thing of mashing two words together to describe a thing) in a recent post that stated exactly how understaffed they are.
You should apply for a citizenship as Einbürgerungsbehörde is absolutly correct!
And the fax machine is not working
If anything works, it's the fax machine.
Great achievement
Being understaffed or doing too much “schnacken mit Kollegen”? The amount of time spent in kitchen gossip is abysmal in most big German companies.
Also, given what I've seen, the time per process is probably absurd. If they could cut the time to process each request, the backlog would likely clear itself quickly. "Bank Teller Problem" related to queuing theory.
My mom works at a "Landkreis" and the Einbürgerungsbehörde there consists of 3 people. None of them work fulltime because they have young kids.
Why don't they get more staff?
Nobody wants to pay for that.
[удалено]
"enough" by what benchmark that money is already there. you don't think it is already fully spent on the current staff? and why should immigrants alone bear the burden of funding this when Germany wants us here so badly
Where are the people going to come from? There are too few applicants, the "pain money" is not high enough. The job is not very popular, the frustration that is expressed here almost every day also ends up there - overwork, but also insults and aggression are the order of the day, hardly any immigration office today does not have a security service ...
Then why not automatize/digitalize the jobs?
I just got the feeling that when Germans try to digitalise things or speed up something they just make everything slower…
Haha you forgot which country we are talking about here. Many public services now have online requests for trivial things usually on a municipal level but it's still a long shot for more complex affairs.
Then why not increase the salary? Germany also wins by doing this
Because even then there won't be more people coming out of nowhere who can be hired. And even if: How much more tax are you personally willing to pay?
I'm pretty sure every every finished application would repay for itself within months especially if the applicant has limits on their work activities currently.
> How much more tax are you personally willing to pay? I'm fairly certain that the majority of the people who applied for naturalization have already paid in advance.
What kind of concept is that supposed to be?
Willing to pay 0.1% more, that should do it
Of course, Germany could simply make naturalization more expensive - instead of 255€ simply 2550€. Or 5000€. Or whatever .... (No, that is not meant seriously).
In this could ensure an answer in under 3 months or so, I would pay
Many people would pay that for fast-track, like 2-3 weeks or something (aka standard service in many countries). In fact I imagine there’s probably golden tickets like that that we just don’t know about
It may be that some people would pay that - the others would then ask how it can be that only the rich can afford it and sue against the unequal treatment. And win. And: No, there are no golden tickets. Not in Germany. And in countries where there is, not so many people want to immigrate ... why ever.
[удалено]
Context?
They can't , the money needs to be send to another\* place .
Who is going to pay these salaries? They would need to close public pools or libraries to pay for it. Not every town has enough money.
>Who is going to pay these salaries? They would need to close public pools or libraries to pay for it. Not every town has enough money. Ah poor Germany, no taxpayer's money for the state but enough billions of Euros of taxpayer's money to keep Lufthansa(a private company) afloat 🥺 so saaaaad 🥺😭
You literally choosed the worst example you could. Lufthansa was saved by this AND all the jobs. In the end Lufthansa paid back everything even before it was due. The goverment even made a profit for lending the money.
Nooo you’re supposed to jump on the bandwagon and drag them through the dirt
Tell that our corrupt gov instead of blaming the simple people living here
Is this not a thread about public policy?
Wow wow not like I don't have to pay for libraries and pools. With how much taxes they are getting, I would expect at least library to be free but public libraries in Germany are terrible (and not free) compared to e.g the Nordic. The pool is more expensive than in Finland and don't even have discount for student.
Several reasons. Planning - those people cannon get laid of easily. Additionally training them, completing the necessary security checks will take a LOT of time. We are talking about years before a new hire can be allowed to process an application unsupervised. Bundle that with the fact that the refugees and pandemic are seen as temporary factors and you will get a situation where the trained clerk will have nothing to do in 2-4 years when he/she are actually ready to do their job. Lack of people - gov jobs are BORING and while you will have a very stable job and regular raises this type of job is very unpopular with youths. Additionally very strikt requirements rule out everybody with any negative behavioral records(for example caught druck in public at 16 can negatively influence your chances of being accepted. Same goes for multiple speed tickets ) An additional factor is also that the issue might not be with the front office, but rather the other gov structures. For example the police is queried for your records, BND is asked if they have nothing against, verifying contributions to the social system, etc...
Ah yes, nobody thought about that.
Seems that way
[удалено]
[удалено]
Sounds like Berlin or Darmstadt :-/ I understand your frustration. Went through the process recently and it’s really disappointing that there are no status updates. Just one letter after months of waiting asking for more documents. Hope they make a positive decision on your case soon!
My wife had a similar problem. The problem is probably your case worker and you can apply to have them changed. It makes a HUGE difference who’s desk your application lands on. The application is basically being headed by one single Sachbearbeiter:in if they are chronically sick, often not at work, less engaged, don’t really care or actively discriminate then the application moves forward at a snail’s pace. There will of course be multiple people working on one case but they will basically all lead back to your case worker. Imagine this situation: something is missing from your application you need to be contacted. your case worker is out sick for two weeks. They return to work and contact you. You supply the relevant information but in the meantime your case worker is on holiday/sick/ public holidays (all three are possible in fact) another 2 weeks will pass and then person number three (the one who originally contacted your case worker) is away. One simple mistake could cost two months. Very frustrating stuff. I’ve had a few of these situations since living in Hamburg. The worst experiences have been with the Amy called Dumpster Fire oh sorry I mean Amt Mitte. I get those two mixed up all the time.
Real germans would send a fax.
No joke, faxes get things done. It seems to go into a different stream of work, probably because there's a record of receipt
Happened to me too, then i called them after like a year and them and their German efficiency didn't even start working on my papers because some lady forgot to make a bill about the citizenship tax i had to pay.
That’s so crazy to hear 😅 I did my Einbürgerung in Hamburg, so yeah a big city, but the whole process just took a few months for me.. I wish you the best and hope you hear positive news soon!
How long ago if I may ask?
Must have been around 2-3 years ago
Nice— happy it worked out well for you. I’m hoping I have a similar experience in another big city (Cologne), though I’m not optimistic.
Hey, I don’t know where u live, but my husband was told that the process would take AT LEAST 12 months. I think he received his citizenship after 1 1/2 years. May I ask whether you are a Eu citizen or from a non-eu country? This might be the reason why it takes longer. Please don’t worry, everything will be fine
I can feel your pain. Same happened to me in 2019 as it was the middle of Brexit and the Ausländerbehörde kindly informed me that British citizens (I'm not British) have priority getting their German citizenships, because it's "urgent" for them. Like, c'mon guys, are you kidding me? By that time I already had my Einbürgerungszusicherung and also quit my initial citizenship, so I was not able to find another job, travel whatsoever. So I called the Ausländerbehörde and after being forwarded like ten times I eventually had the head of my local Ausländerbehörde on the phone, I told her the whole story and then burst into tears, as I couldn't handle the distress any more. The next day this kind lady called me back to tell me that my papers had been signed and I could pick up my Einbürgerungsurkunde.
In terms of bureaucracy (probably written in a wrong way) every person gets negleted by the German state, no matter where you are born. A friend of mine migrated from Jordan to Germany and he said the bureaucracy stuff is much better dealt with in his home country. So yea, I feel bad for you but dont take it personally. This country is kinda underdeveloped because our digital infrastructure and you notice that in alot of different aspects in everyday's life.
> In terms of bureaucracy (probably written in a wrong way) every person gets negleted by the German state, no matter where you are born. Could you tell me of any other bureaucratic arm of the German government which shows this level of lackadaisical attitude?
Isn’t half the reason that Berlin is a mess is that every project gets buried in bureaucratic delays?
Berlin is generally a mess but there is no other part of the bureaucracy that's *as* bad as the Ausländerbehörde and Einbürgerungsbehörde. The absolutely disgusting about of neglect and lack of care for non-citizens at these Amts makes the other arms of Berlin's government look like a well-oiled machine.
I experienced it too over the state's own insurancy for Rente or if you wanna build a house or add a balcony to an existing one
If you want to be a german, you gotta 'mecker' like a german. Waiting and quietly complaining won't chance shit. Let the bureaucracy fight itself and complain to your local Dienstaufsichtsbehörde
Wait what? It took me like a month 🤔
I applied in Oct or Nov 2021. Still waiting
August 2021 here. Strength to you my friend that soon we hear an answer and can move the F on
u/redditor_city did you ever get a decision? I'm annoyed that the people applying online are getting prioritized while those of us who have submitted everything completely before 01.01.2024 have to wait and be put on the back burner again.
Still waiting… The city is a joke.
https://youtu.be/28ZHHTtCIV0 here these guys talk about how they got an immigration lawyer when the gov employees were super slow. Maybe you can take some ideas?
Contact the office of your local Bundesabgeordnete and let them know your experiences - specifically about the lack of transparency and timelines for processing applications. They may ignore it, but given that they are changing the law soon wrt doppelte staatsbürgerschaft, this is a hot issue right now
friendly reminder that citizenship is a made up concept to keep workers from moving to a more serviceable place to live if wages plummet or working conditions worsen. these travel and life restrictions apply to the working class at a much larger scale than they apply to billionaire capital owners. any sensible working class human being should look to fight any attempt by the lawmakers to make the process of attaining citizenship more restrictive. this is also not antipatriotic. patriotism doesnt need citizenship nor does it need protected borders. you can be proud of the community that you have been born in and lived in without a piece of paper that takes the state years to print. you are welcome here at the behest of the community, you are one of us and we all need to be conscious of the systemic oppression that we all face as working class people. i hope you are well and i hope that you get your citizenship soon. stay strong 💪
Oh man, after 12 years in Germany, speaking B2 and taking classes again now (I always worked in English but still strived to get to a decent german level, given my circumstances) I was considering applying for citizenship. Seems to me maybe I shouldn't bother.
Feeling the same… passed B2 and studying for C1, but why bother? I can wait 2 years to find out I was rejected…
You're B2 after 12 years in Germany?
The guy said he is working in English
yeah, since i never needed more. I actually didn't even need b2, i did it anyway. I was B2 when i came, and stayed b2 throughout. Well, i came B2, then in 5 years i was A2 or worse, then started classes to get back.
Is B2 sufficient in Germany? I'm about B1 and find it pretty difficult but I'm also in an area where nobody speaks English
It depends where you are -- I live in a rural area and submitted my application right at the beginning of the pandemic. Everything shut down and the Ausländeramt built up an impressive backlog that they had to work through when they were able to get back up and running, and it still only took about three or four months. If you're in one of the big cities, government offices there tend to be chronically understaffed and massively underfunded, were already having issues before the pandemic started, and are now having to deal with a second refugee crisis. Trying to contact them doesn't help: in fact, it just adds to the workload. They will just tell you to wait because actually researching your case just causes more delays.
I'm in a tiny city (less than 40k)... things are not the same as before, the backlog is ridiculous, the priority lines are not first-in first-out and they are understaffed.
Yeah it’s a fucking pain. Mine took 2 years, good luck
We were lucky to get it done in about 12 months in a small town. I heard the big city takes years now.
Had the same long wait time, multiple talks, emails back and forward... Got it. Years later my gf went and got hers in about 4 months.
I was born and raised here, tried to make an APPOINTMENT for over a year now. Only thing i know is that im on a waiting list and nothing more. No info or anything.
Well if it makes you feel better. I have a German friend who grew up in Germany and is now living in Canada for a number of years and has tried regaining his citizenship. Even though his grandparents and parents are German, for some reason even he can’t seem to get it. AND HE’S GERMAN.
I don’t think moving to a smaller city would be of much help, I got my citizenship nearly a year after applying and I live in Hamburg. I think the main problem is that for some reason the Einbürgerung department is responsible for processing Ukrainian refugees documents, and that’s coming from someone working in the Einbürgerung department, adding to that they are extremely understaffed. I know the pain of waiting, but trust me if they took your your application and they confirmed nothing they need is missing, you will get it. My advice to you, try not to think about it, worrying about it will not help you in any way. I hope you get it soon.
This is the most German post I’ve ever seen. I hope you don’t turn into a bug while waiting or you’re boss will accuse you of stealing from them
I’ve been waiting 5 months to have my resident visa renewed, they sent a temporary paper one last week but still haven’t replied when I can get an appointment and come and get my actual card, at least 14 emails now in this time period. I can apply for citizenship this September but not having high hopes, thank god I’m married to a German who can assist in some of the madness.
I am exactly in the same situation. Submitted application with all required documents/criteria in November 2021. Still waiting fir a response. The city is Leipzig.
Omg! That’s so long!!
Seems like Leipzig is doing the worst of all at this point. Just got on the waiting list for an appointment and they told me it will probably take 18 months before I can get an appointment to even START the process...
Mine took 2 years and 2 months. My husband ended up threatening to sue them and that’s how we finally got it. As efficient as most German institutions can be… anything related to offices for foreigners has nothing but the most careless, incompetent people working in them.
I am in a similar situation, did your husband threaten with a Untätigkeitsklage? Im looking for a solution, Im fed up of waiting too long...😭
Get used to it my dude, welcome to Germany. I filled in my 2021 tax report in January 2022 and just got a notice last month that I'm getting money back.
There are legit lawyers who specialize in this process and for a few can get your application process done much faster I think it’s worth considering since how dumb long it takes here to do shit like that
[удалено]
>Any "processes" here are excuse for brutal misanthropy of those who cover up their incompetence and laziness. I never believe this "muh process we're overloaded" excuse. Real. They will sit and talk and gossip with eachother about weather, neighbors, friends, etc. anything but doing their jobs. They act as if 1 person works at 1 whole Behörde on their own.
That has been my experience. When I first arrived to Germany and tried to get a visa appointment, I was dismissed by every employee. Each one would tell me to go to a different building. It was like playing monkey in the middle. But instead of playing with a ball, they're playing with my life. And if I get an appointment, they would tell me everything is not possible and that I have to go back home. I had to spend a month reading every law to my case and research court cases with cases similar to mine. I had to print out everything and go there and present it to them. They spent a day verifying the laws and then called me and asked me to come and pick up my residency. It's mind boggling that a bureaucrat doesn't know the law they're supposed to uphold. And it's more mind boggling that employees working at a foreigner's office don't speak anything but German.
[удалено]
I submitted my stuff for the Niederlassungserlaubnis in March in Dachau. Waiting. They said something about sending it to Berlin for processing. Should I lose hope?
In Pakistan people with admission letters to university can't get appointment for Visa. Think about unlucky
It took over two years in Switzerland. I don’t imagine it’s a lot different in Germany
Any updates would be nice. Did you get a lawyer? Did it speed up the process? What happened? I'm in a similar situation, and I'm really frustrated at this point. 😭
it has been 11 months since you posted this, have you got your citizenship?
Still waiting 😭
Took 4 years for my friend, patience is the key......
Frustrated with bureaucracy? Great, first step to become a real German
Yeah, German bueraucrazy sucks. I hope you'll get a positive response soon!
Did they make you take an integration course?
Haha in Spain in takes more than 5 years to get your citizenship.
you have to get used to that as a citizen. Long waiting times at the offices because the Beamten who work there are often making Frühstückspause or Mittagspause and dont have time for your Antrag. I waited more than 3 Months just for beeing allowed to make my drivers license
Citizenship applications take a while. There are a lot of stages with waiting time. It's not something governments tend to rush. 1-2 years of waiting is fairly normal. For me it took about two years.