Obtaining citizenship in Germany: opportunities, pros and cons

Germany is considered to be one of the most attractive countries for those wishing to obtain European citizenship. There are several reasons for this - a high economic and social level, the presence of prospects for successful employment in international corporations, free medical care in modern clinics, the opportunity to attend the best universities in Europe, etc.

Features of registration of German citizenship

After obtaining a residence permit in Germany, applicants, as well as their relatives, may soon become citizens of this country. Such an opportunity is automatically provided to children born in Germany, if at least one of the parents has a residence permit. In all other cases, a number of conditions must be met to obtain citizenship.

Every migrant who has received a residence permit in any of the German settlements must have lived in the country for at least 7 years. It is important to take into account that the years of study are not included in such a period.

There are a number of additional conditions that must be met in order to obtain German citizenship. The main ones are:

• the person should not receive unemployment benefits when applying for citizenship;
• applicant must know German language and laws;
• the applicant must have no criminal record.

Also, when submitting an application you will have to pay a fee which amounts to 255 euros. To obtain a document, you must prematurely renounce your previous citizenship.

There are categories of the population for whom simplified conditions for obtaining citizenship can apply. These include:

• spouses of German citizens - they can receive a passport 3 months after entering the country;
• children of German residents - they are granted citizenship immediately after arriving in the country;
• citizens of European countries - they need to live in Germany for 6 years, and after receiving the document, they can retain their first citizenship.

Also, special conditions apply for refugees. Citizenship can be granted to them before the 7 year period. However, it should be noted that the conditions for such applicants are more stringent.

The procedure for obtaining a residence permit, as well as citizenship, depends on an individual case. Therefore, it is impossible to draw up an exact algorithm for issuing such documents for every applicant. The main thing is to correctly fill out an application and prepare all the necessary accompanying documents. If all this is done correctly, it will be possible to get the desired document in the shortest time possible.