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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

Does hiring a lawyer speed up your German citizenship application?

Contracting a lawyer to help you with your German citizenship application isn't likely to help you get an appointment faster. But it may help you in other ways, particularly if your citizenship authority starts ghosting you.

Published: 24 April 2024 11:02 CEST
Updated: 27 April 2024 15:05 CEST
Does hiring a lawyer speed up your German citizenship application?
A lawyer can't guarantee you a speedy response to your German citizenship application, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider one in some cases. Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

With the German naturalisation law reform set to come into force on June 26th, many foreign residents in Germany are considering applying. One question that readers have asked The Local is: Will contracting a lawyer with good contacts within citizenship and immigration authorities speed up your German citizenship application?

READ ALSO: Elation and worry as German citizenship law passes final hurdle

Strictly speaking, no. That in and of itself won’t do it – according to legal experts The Local has spoken to.

Immigration lawyers Andreas Moser and Sven Hasse both say the best way to increase your application’s chances of speedy approval is to make sure the application is complete and well-organised. Moser recommends that paper applications are filed with an index of documents and that files submitted with electronic applications are neatly scanned and clearly labelled.

“I’ve had clients who’ve done it like that and they sometimes get their citizenship – even in busy offices like Munich – in three months,” says Moser. “The most important thing is to only apply when you’ve met all the conditions, have all the paperwork, and you can present it in one folder.”

You may wish to have a lawyer go over your documents to help ensure that neat application – or even perhaps to draft a cover letter anticipating and answering any questions the authorities might have.

Such explanations might be to detail a short break in your income, or address why your children might have a different last name to you if they’re included in your application.

However, having a lawyer to help you do this isn’t necessary in many cases. Moser also advises that it’s unlikely to save you any time versus simply doing the application yourself, as your lawyer will have to go through all the application details with you anyway – and it can be costly.

READ ALSO: How to get a speedy response on your German citizenship application

When should I definitely consider a lawyer?

Moser’s recommendation, in most cases at least, is to consider a lawyer only once it’s clear that the authorities aren’t considering your neat and complete application in a timely manner and you want to challenge them.

Normally, this shouldn’t be until at least three months have passed without word on the status of your application. At that point you can threaten a complaint through the administrative court. Such a complaint is known as an Untätigkeitsklage and you can draft a letter to the citizenship authority yourself stating that if it does not act on your application, you will file the complaint. You can also ask a lawyer to help you with this threat letter.

Moser says that much of the time, this threat letter works – and the applicant will rarely have to actually file the Untätigkeitsklage. If you do choose to file it though, it’s at this point that Moser advises you seek out a lawyer to draft and file the complaint on your behalf. This process costs €500 in court fees and more in legal fees, although if the court finds in your favour – the authority then has to send this money back to you.

Finally, both Hasse and Moser say you should consider legal advice if your case is complicated. This might include a previous criminal conviction carrying a sentence of slightly more than 90 days, or for uncertain or interrupted periods of residence. This could include people who’ve travelled to their home countries for an extended period of time to look after ailing relatives or employees of German companies who’ve been posted outside of Germany for an extended period of time due to their jobs.

READ ALSO: When to consider legal action for your German citizenship application

Member comments

  1. Thanks for this article. I’ve applied for German citizenship last year for myself and my children based on my grandfather being a German citizen at the time of my Father’s birth. My attorney told us we should hear by the end of this year. He told us this type is through a different court process than the naturalization process. Has anyone else reading this, done this application for citizenship from ancestry.

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TRAVEL NEWS

How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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