Identity and existing nationality

We prepare the clarification of your identity and existing citizenship as necessary requirements for your naturalisation application. This may sound straightforward, but it can become demanding where documents have been lost, names are spelled differently or the person has fled their country. What matters is not only which documents are available. Equally important is what those documents actually prove and which further evidence can be obtained in the person's circumstances.

In this context, identity means reliably linking a particular person to their personal details. These include, in particular, first name, surname, birth name, date of birth and place of birth; marital status may also be relevant to the assessment. The authority must be able to establish that the applicant is actually the person to whom the submitted documents refer. A document bearing a matching name is not sufficient regardless of the circumstances in which it came into existence.

Nationality, by contrast, describes a person's legal membership of a state. It does not automatically follow from place of birth, language, ethnic background or long-term residence. A person may have been born in one country and hold the nationality of another. They may also hold several nationalities or be stateless. A birth certificate may therefore prove important aspects of identity without also answering every question about nationality.

Naturalisation grants German citizenship to a specific person. The naturalisation certificate should reflect that person's correct identity. At the same time, the authorities need reliable personal details to assess further requirements, such as criminal convictions or statutory grounds for exclusion. The issue therefore goes beyond the spelling that will appear in a future German passport.

Many people have lived in Germany under the same personal details for years. These appear in the population register, on their residence permit, in employment contracts and with their health insurer. Such documents show continuous use of those details. However, they do not necessarily establish the basis on which the original data was recorded. If several German documents rely on the same unverified statement, repeating it does not create independent pieces of evidence.

Neither recognition as a refugee nor a residence or settlement permit conclusively establishes the personal details it contains for the naturalisation procedure. These decisions govern protection status or the right of residence. Their effect does not automatically extend to the accuracy of all the information on which they were based. However, this does not mean that earlier checks are irrelevant: their results and the documents used at the time can be considered in the current assessment.

Since the reform came into force on 27 June 2024, German law has generally no longer required applicants to give up their existing nationality for standard naturalisation. However, this does not mean that existing nationality has become irrelevant. The statutory requirement to establish it remains. Abolition of the former requirement to relinquish nationality and the duty to provide correct personal details concern different questions.

We record with you all citizenships you hold. If there are concrete indications of a further nationality, such as relevant earlier passports or acquisition by descent, this may also need to be clarified. However, not every theoretically conceivable connection to a country requires an unlimited search for unknown nationalities. The actual family circumstances and legal position are decisive.

Germany also does not determine whether another state allows its nationality to continue when someone is naturalised as German. That state's own law governs this question. We therefore distinguish German evidentiary requirements from possible loss consequences under foreign law. The article on multiple nationality: German rules and consequences in the country of origin explains the details.

Former nationalities may also be relevant when assessing a person's history. For later acquisition or loss, we distinguish your status then from your status today. An old passport initially shows which nationality the issuing state confirmed at the time of issue. Whether that nationality continued later may require additional documents concerning its acquisition or loss. A chronological overview is therefore often more helpful than naming just one country. If memories of a status change are unclear, we examine available decisions and family records rather than substituting an assumption for the event.

The most important starting point is usually the national passport. It combines personal details with a statement by the issuing state that the person concerned holds its nationality. In the tiered model of evidence, it occupies a first tier of its own. An identity card is therefore not automatically an equivalent alternative that can be chosen freely.

Other documents may also be necessary or helpful: a birth certificate, documents concerning a marriage or change of name, earlier passports and evidence of the acquisition or loss of a nationality. Each document serves a particular purpose. A marriage certificate may explain a name change; it does not necessarily replace proof of identity. A passport may establish the name currently used while leaving an earlier, different entry in need of explanation.

This organisation is particularly helpful when documents from different states or stages of life need to be brought together. It prevents a large quantity of paperwork from being confused with complete clarification.

A missing passport does not necessarily lead to refusal. The law must also offer a realistic way to establish identity for people whose country of origin does not issue reliable documents or who cannot reasonably be expected to obtain them for personal reasons. This is the purpose of the tiered model of identity evidence.

The tiered model considers the passport first, then recognised passport substitute documents or other official identity documents with a photograph, followed by other official certificates and then unofficial documents or witness statements. In exceptional cases, the person's own account may ultimately suffice as part of a comprehensive assessment of all the circumstances. Moving to the next tier requires, in each case, that the evidence with priority is unavailable or cannot reasonably be obtained despite sufficient cooperation.

A passport that has merely not been applied for must therefore be assessed differently from one that has demonstrably been refused. Similarly, a temporary wait, a destroyed register and a specific danger arising from contact are different situations. We clearly explain the specific obstacle, its cause and your previous attempts to obtain documents. The article on cooperation where obtaining documents is impossible or unreasonable addresses the legal limits.

The identity and nationality of recognised refugees must also be established for naturalisation. Protection status does not lead to a general waiver. However, it may be decisive in determining which steps to obtain documents can be required. A specific danger to the applicant or their relatives must be taken into account when assessing what can reasonably be expected.

A refugee travel document is not equivalent to a national passport from the country of origin. In particular, it enables travel and may also serve an identification function. Its evidential value, however, depends on how the details it contains were established. An endorsement stating that personal details are based on the holder's own statements is therefore important. Even without such an endorsement, identity is not automatically and conclusively established for the naturalisation procedure.

The absence of automatic recognition does not create a blanket obligation to visit an embassy without first assessing the situation. Equally, not every purely administrative contact amounts to voluntarily placing oneself under the protection of the country of origin again. These questions must be assessed separately. Whether a particular step is safe and reasonable requires consideration of the person's circumstances. The detailed article on passport requirements for refugees and contact with the embassy addresses this distinction separately.

Differences in spelling may have harmless causes, such as different transliterations from another alphabet. The order of names or the treatment of multiple name components may also vary. A spelling variation with a clear explanation is different from using another person's identity or a deliberately false date of birth.

We explicitly investigate these differences. A change of name can often be explained by the relevant certificate. Where a date of birth has been transcribed, it may be necessary to check which calendar was used and whether the translation or conversion is correct. If a different date of birth is submitted for the first time, however, it must be made clear why the earlier information differed and what basis supports the new information.

We set out the development of your personal details chronologically, distinguishing original entries from translations and later transcriptions. We identify uncertain recollections as such. Merely making new forms match the latest spelling does not resolve an existing inconsistency. We explain how we assess the different causes in correcting differing names, dates of birth and earlier information.

Someone who has no passport is not automatically stateless. Statelessness means that no state considers the person a national under its law. “Undetermined”, by contrast, means that nationality has not yet been reliably established. This may describe a temporary evidential situation and must not be equated with statelessness solely because documents are missing.

Even a person whose identity is established may have difficulty proving their nationality. Conversely, membership of a particular state may appear likely while their name or date of birth still needs clarification. This distinction affects the choice of evidence. An unsuccessful passport application, for example, may have various causes and does not in itself prove that the person has no nationality. Statelessness and undetermined nationality discusses this in greater detail.

Within a family, the same certificates may be relevant to several applications. Nevertheless, the individuals must not be treated as a single unit for evidential purposes. A parent's passport does not directly prove the child's identity. A birth certificate may establish the connection between them; the child's nationality also depends on the applicable law on acquisition and the actual parentage. For naturalisation together with a family member, § 10 paragraph 2 StAG also refers to the requirements of paragraph 1.

For a child born in Germany, three questions must be kept separate: Has the birth been reliably recorded? Have the legally relevant parents and their personal details been established? Which nationality has the child acquired? An unresolved question about one parent does not mean that the birth itself is unproved. Nor may the statutory evidential force of a German civil status certificate be equated with the absence of a comprehensive binding effect for a residence permit. § 54 PStG applies to civil status certificates.

Before a naturalisation application is made, it must also be clarified whether the child is already German. Possible acquisition by birth is a different legal process from later naturalisation. The details on acquisition by birth and naturalisation of children help with this assessment. The evidence requirements for naturalisation must not be transferred to all forms of statutory acquisition at birth without a separate assessment.