Other official documents

If primary identity documents are inaccessible, we assess the evidentiary value of your birth certificates, register extracts and other official records. Under the current tiered model, they generally belong to the third tier of evidence. Their usefulness depends on which facts they establish and how these can be linked to the person seeking naturalisation. The decisive connection often emerges only through several interrelated documents.

According to case law, the passport must be considered first, followed by a recognised passport substitute or another official identity document bearing a photograph. If such documents are unavailable and obtaining them is objectively impossible or subjectively unreasonable, other suitable official documents may provide the necessary proof of identity.

Documents with or without a photograph may be considered for this purpose, for example:

• driving licences, official staff identity cards and military service records;

• birth certificates;

• registration, baptism or school certificates. The decisive question is whether the accuracy of the connection between the person and the name was also checked when they were issued. Not every paper described as a certificate automatically belongs to this group.

The classification of a school or baptism certificate depends in particular on the issuing body and its legal function in the state concerned. A private institution does not issue an official document merely because it uses a stamp. Such records may nevertheless be relevant, potentially within the category of unofficial documents and witness testimony.

Official origin is a starting point, but not a conclusive seal of quality for every detail contained in a document. An authority may reliably record an event without having independently checked all the personal details. It is therefore necessary to ask what the original examination covered and what the information was based on.

An official school record, for example, may confirm that a person attended a school under a particular name at a particular time. Whether it also reliably establishes an exact date of birth depends on how that date was recorded. A registration certificate confirms a registration; the reliability of the personal details copied into it may in turn depend on the documents presented when registering.

A birth certificate relates to a particular birth. It may contain details about the child, the place and time of birth and the parents. This makes it particularly important when birth details, the birth name or family connections need to be clarified.

For an adult, however, the connection between the child at that time and the present applicant still needs to be examined. A certificate without a photograph does not directly show who is presenting it. That connection may emerge from further documents, a comprehensible sequence of later entries and other reliable findings. A birth certificate is therefore often a central piece of evidence, but is not invariably sufficient regardless of the other facts.

Equally, place of birth does not automatically prove nationality. Whether a state grants nationality by birth within its territory, by descent or under other rules is determined by its law. We therefore assess separately whether the certificate proves identity, citizenship or both.

A newly issued register extract may be based on a very old entry. The date on which the paper was issued and the date of the original registration must therefore be distinguished. An extract issued during ongoing naturalisation proceedings is not less informative simply because it bears a recent date.

The position may be different if the underlying registration itself took place only at a late stage. It then matters which documents or statements it was based on. A late registration is not automatically incorrect. However, it may require an additional explanation if the data had not previously been documented anywhere or differ from older information.

Information about the underlying register entry, subsequent corrections and any earlier extracts is therefore helpful. If a new extract contains a different name, we submit it with an explanation and evidence of the change. The change and its legal or factual reason must be understandable. Relevant records may include a name-change decision, a marriage certificate or a correction to the original entry.

Marriage certificates, family registers and comparable official documents may explain why the same person appears under different names at different times. They may also document family relationships relevant to linking older evidence to a person or to questions of nationality.

We explain the family relationships through the specific certificates. If a birth certificate names a parent under an earlier name and a later family register uses a changed name, the connecting document may be decisive. Without that connection, two documents that are each genuine may still be insufficiently linked.

Family registers are not structured in the same way in every state either. Some contain several generations or different types of entries; others record only certain registered events. The assessment therefore depends on the complete relevant contents and the meaning of the fields used. An abbreviated translation may lose important information about corrections or the basis of an entry.

Documents bearing a photograph may make it easier to establish the connection to the person. Documents with biometric features generally have greater evidential value than those without them. However, this does not create a rigid rule that every old photograph outweighs every document without a photograph.

A clear photograph on a reliably issued document may bridge a gap between a name and a person. A barely recognisable picture, a photograph visibly inserted later or a document whose basis of issue is unknown answers that question less reliably. The time that has elapsed and the other matching details must also be taken into account.

An official staff identity card can therefore be helpful without moving up to the tier of a national identity card. The question of the tier of evidence and that of the specific evidential value remain separate. Recognised passport substitutes and official identity documents bearing a photograph also explains the difference.

A copy reproduces the visible contents of a document. However, it does not permit all the checks that can be carried out on the original. If only a copy is available, we explain where the original is or why it is unavailable. An earlier official examination of the original may be relevant here.

Particular accuracy is important for name components, calendar dates and handwritten additions. We identify illegible passages rather than filling them with assumptions. If several translations differ, the discrepancy must be resolved. The separate article Correcting differing names, dates of birth and earlier statements addresses these questions in greater depth.

Foreign public documents may require confirmation of their authenticity. Depending on the state and document, this may involve legalisation, a Hague apostille or exemption from such formalities. An apostille confirms, in particular, the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the signatory acted and, where applicable, the seal. It is not comprehensive confirmation that every fact stated in the document is true.

In certain states, document verification by way of administrative assistance takes place instead of legalisation. Depending on local possibilities, this may examine both formal authenticity and the facts certified. We clarify the intended procedure by reference to the competent German mission and the requesting authority. Information is provided by the Federal Foreign Office on the international use of documents.

For certain public documents from another EU Member State, Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 provides an exemption from legalisation and apostilles. As the Federal Foreign Office explains, the scope of the Regulation is decisive. This does not create an exemption for any document simply because its holder lives in the EU. The issuing state, document type and intended use must be checked. This distinction can prevent unnecessary costs in obtaining documents.

A missing apostille therefore does not mean in every case that a document is unusable. Conversely, an apostille does not eliminate other specific contradictions. Formal requirements and the substantive assessment of evidence remain different parts of the examination.

German civil status registers and the certificates issued from them have evidential force laid down by law. Under § 54 PStG, the registered records prove the recorded events and the further details of civil status. Informational annotations do not have this evidential force; it remains possible to prove that certified facts are incorrect. § 54 PStG in the official statutory text.

A German birth certificate therefore cannot simply be treated like an ordinary private record. At the same time, it is necessary to read carefully which facts are certified and whether supplementary annotations or limitations to the information exist. The certification of a birth does not automatically amount to a conclusive decision on every associated foreign nationality.

For children born in Germany, additional questions may therefore arise from their parents’ personal details and nationalities. This must be distinguished from reliably establishing the birth itself. What further clarification is necessary depends on the specific contents of the certificates and the other findings.

A current civil status certificate need not show the entire development of the register entry. Under § 56(2) PStG, after an entry has been updated, the amended facts are generally incorporated into the certificate. Someone who needs to explain why older documents contain a different name may additionally need the earlier entry or the underlying amendment. § 55 PStG provides, among other things, for certified register printouts for this purpose. The appropriate form depends on which information needs to be clarified.

The current statutory text also recognises electronic civil status certificates with statutory evidential force. These must be distinguished from a self-made scan of a paper certificate: the decisive factor is not the file format alone, but the legally regulated issue and signature. We therefore work with the original file received and explain why it needs to remain available in that form. Whether a particular method of transmission is offered in the naturalisation proceedings must be clarified separately. §§ 54–56 PStG.

For each certificate, we explain which identity feature it establishes. A birth certificate may provide the original details, a later official record may document use of the name, and a name-change certificate may explain today’s spelling. We connect these records coherently rather than merely increasing their number.

The independence of the sources is particularly important. If a new register extract, a registration certificate and a school certificate are all based on the same unverified statement, they may merely repeat a single assertion. If, by contrast, documents were created at different times and on different verified bases, they may support one another.

We address inconsistencies explicitly and examine their explanation against the available evidence. A different day may result from a transcription error, a different name from a documented change. However, this must be understandable. The authority must not demand unattainable absolute certainty, but does need an overall convincing picture of the personal details.

We identify both what the available evidence establishes and the evidentiary gap that remains. It is more precise to explain that a certificate proves the date of birth but not yet the connection to the person today than to declare it sufficient or worthless in general terms. The overview Evidence where a passport is missing or unobtainable shows how the further methods of proof follow on from this.