Citizenship card: Issuance
Formal proof of possession of German citizenship is provided by means of a citizenship certificate. This certificate is required for certain legal transactions or legal relationships (e.g. adoption, civil servant).
Preconditions:
Before issuing a citizenship card or certificate of legal status as a German, the citizenship authority must check:
- whether and by what means you have acquired German citizenship / legal status as a German,
- whether and by what means you have lost your German citizenship / legal status as a German.
In addition to your personal information, information about the persons from whom you derive your nationality is also required. You can find out which persons these are in each case on the application form.
Please seek advice from the authority when filling out the application if there are any uncertainties.
The responsibility lies with the district and the independent city of citizenship authority in which you have your residence.
In order to prove or establish that you and, where applicable, the persons from whom you derive your nationality:
- have acquired German citizenship / legal status as a German,
- have German citizenship / legal status as a German or
- have been treated as German since at least 1950,
For example, the following documents may be considered:- Documents on parentage and civil status:
Birth or parentage certificates, marriage certificates, copies / extracts from the family book - Documents on the acquisition of German citizenship:
Naturalisation certificates, award certificates, admission certificates, certificates / documents on the acquisition of German citizenship by declaration or option, certificates of appointment to civil servants, declaratory decisions on the acquisition of citizenship through service in the former German Wehrmacht and other associations - Documents relating to membership of the group of persons to whom collective naturalisation extended:
Expellee identity cards, ethnic German repatriation certificates (according to § 15 para. 1 and 2 BVFG), Volksliste cards, Volkstumsbescheinigungen or other documents about German ethnicity, proof of (former) home law, citizenship or residence in the areas concerned, certificates of waiver of the right of waiver - Documents on the acquisition of legal status as a German without German citizenship:
Expellee identity cards, ethnic German repatriation certificates (according to § 15 para. 1 and 2 BVFG), (old) refugee identity cards, registration forms, registration confirmations or registration certificates - Documents on the possession of German citizenship / legal status as a German:
Proof of nationality, certificate of origin, documents / identity cards on the legal status as a German, passports, identity cards and other identity documents (including old ones), extracts from (former) family registers, citizen lists or citizen registers, documents on military service or activity as a civil servant, registration confirmations, registration certificates, documents on the authorization to retain German citizenship
- Documents on parentage and civil status:
The documents must be presented in the original or as certified copies (original documents will be returned).
The fee for the citizenship card is 25 euros.
The applicant must also declare that he is aware that the application, rejection or withdrawal of the application is subject to a fee.
Deadlines may have to be observed. Please contact the competent authority.
Text checked by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport; updated 31.12.2007
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.
