Proof of German citizenship is provided—and is binding for all authorities—by a citizenship certificate, which is issued by the citizenship authority upon application as part of a special assessment procedure.

Requirements

A citizenship certificate can only be issued if German citizenship has been established. To this end, the citizenship authority checks

• whether and how you acquired German citizenship,
• whether and how you have lost German citizenship.

In addition to information about yourself, information about the persons from whom you derive your citizenship is therefore also required. Please consult the authorities for advice on this matter.

To establish German citizenship, it is necessary but also sufficient to prove with sufficient certainty, by means of documents, extracts from the register of residents, or other written evidence, that you have acquired German citizenship and have not lost it again.

The following documents may be useful:

• Documents relating to ancestry and civil status: birth certificates, marriage certificates;
• Documents relating to the acquisition of German citizenship: naturalization certificates, certificates of conferral, certificates of admission, certificates/documents relating to the acquisition of German citizenship by declaration or option, certificates of appointment for civil servants, notices of determination regarding the acquisition of citizenship through service in the former German Wehrmacht and other associations;
• Documents relating to membership of the group of persons covered by collective naturalization: Displaced persons' certificates, late repatriate certificates, ethnic group certificates, ethnic group certificates, or other documents relating to German ethnicity, proof of (former) right of residence, citizenship, or residence in the areas concerned, certificates of renunciation of the right of renunciation;
• Documents relating to the acquisition of legal status as a German without German citizenship: expellee certificates, late repatriate certificates, (old) refugee certificates, registration certificates, registration confirmations or registration certificates;
• Documents proving German citizenship or legal status as a German: proof of citizenship, certificates of origin, documents/cards proving legal status as a German, passports, identity cards, and other identification documents (including old ones); Excerpts from (previous) family registers, citizen lists, or citizen directories, documents proving military service or employment as a civil servant, registration confirmations, registration certificates, documents proving approval to retain German citizenship.

Bring whatever you have with you; the citizenship authority will help you review it.

• Fee: EUR 25.00