What residence status is required for naturalisation?

Alongside residence duration, we assess whether your current residence basis is suitable for your naturalisation application. The legal basis of your residence must also be suitable. A settlement permit is one possible route, but by no means the only one. Many people can be naturalised with a temporary residence permit; separate rules apply to people entitled to freedom of movement.

Two requirements are connected but are not identical:

• Duration of residence: Since when have you been living lawfully and habitually in Germany, and which periods can be taken into account?

• Residence status: On what legal basis are you living here at the relevant time?

This becomes clear when someone changes status after studying. A person may have lived in Germany for several years with a residence permit for study and later obtained a residence permit as a skilled worker. A study permit is generally insufficient as the current permit for naturalisation by entitlement. However, this does not mean that all the years spent studying are excluded from the duration of residence or that an entirely new waiting period begins after the change of permit.

Conversely, a newly issued settlement permit may answer the question about current status without automatically meeting all the requirements for naturalisation. The nationality authority independently assesses the duration of residence, identity, language skills, livelihood and other requirements. The article on lawful habitual residence explains the time-related aspect of this assessment in more detail.

For naturalisation by entitlement, § 10 paragraph 1 sentence 1 number 2 StAG lists several alternatives. These include a permanent right of residence, an EU Blue Card and certain temporary residence permits. There is also the expressly provided residence permit under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons for Swiss nationals and their family members. The precise statutory selection appears in § 10 StAG.

For temporary permits, the law uses a list of exclusions. It specifies certain purposes of residence that do not allow naturalisation by entitlement. Other permits may generally suffice. The list must neither be expanded on the basis of personal impressions nor replaced by a general assessment that a stay is in some sense intended to be permanent.

Well-known permanent permits include the settlement permit and the EU long-term residence permit. They are based on different provisions and have different effects, particularly in relation to stays outside Germany. Both can be relevant to the question of a suitable status. Their legal bases are set out in § 9 AufenthG and § 9a AufenthG.

The expiry date of the electronic document must not be confused with the duration of the underlying right. The document proving a permanent right also needs to be renewed for technical reasons. An expired card therefore does not, without further examination, justify the conclusion that the settlement permit has expired. Conversely, a card that still appears valid does not guarantee that the right continues after a longer absence from Germany.

The designation “EU long-term residence” also does not mean that every permanent permit issued by any EU state automatically confers a corresponding German status. When moving to Germany, the requirements applicable here and, where relevant, a German residence permit must be examined. Years of residence in another state do not automatically become qualifying periods for German naturalisation either.

Suitable temporary permits can be found, for example, in the areas of skilled employment, self-employment and family reunification. Certain humanitarian residence permits may also suffice. The EU Blue Card is expressly mentioned. Obtaining a settlement permit in addition is therefore not necessary for every naturalisation application.

Permission to work alone, however, does not answer the question. Some people with excluded residence permits are also allowed to engage in extensive gainful employment. An employment contract and a good income do not automatically change the legal basis of residence. If a different permit is required, it must be obtained under residence law; the naturalisation authority does not itself convert the existing permit.

The precise paragraph number is particularly important. “§ 25 AufenthG” describes an entire group of different humanitarian residence permits. Paragraphs 1 and 2 must be assessed differently from paragraphs 3 to 5. The collective term “humanitarian residence” is therefore too imprecise for a reliable assessment. The article on suitable and excluded residence permits and changing permits provides a detailed overview.

Union citizens entitled to freedom of movement generally do not need a residence permit under the AufenthG for their stay. This is not a failure to provide evidence of a stay that is otherwise unlawful, but a consequence of a different legal system. Their right of residence arises under freedom of movement law when the statutory conditions are met.

This entitlement to freedom of movement may be sufficient for naturalisation. An additional settlement permit is therefore not the usual necessary intermediate step. A certificate confirming a permanent right of residence that has already been acquired must also be distinguished from the existence of that right. The section on which residence permit is needed in the City of Karlsruhe's official naturalisation information expressly mentions Union citizens entitled to freedom of movement and EEA nationals with equivalent status.

We nevertheless set out the conditions supporting your residence clearly. Employment, self-employment, study with sufficient resources and health insurance, or a derived family right may provide different bases. Swiss nationals are covered by the special agreement with the EU. These differences are explained in the article on EU, EEA and Swiss residence rights.

The situation on the day the application is submitted is not the only decisive factor. The required status must exist at the time of naturalisation. A previously suitable residence permit is not sufficient if it has since expired or been validly revoked and no other suitable right exists. Conversely, a permit that was initially unsuitable can be replaced with a suitable one during the procedure.

Naturalisation takes effect when the naturalisation certificate is handed over. Until then, deadlines under residence law must continue to be observed. Positive advance notification or an announced appointment does not automatically remove the need to extend a permit that is about to expire. The statutory point in time is set out in § 16 StAG.

Whether submitting an application before a foreseeable change of permit is worthwhile depends on the stage reached in both procedures. A merely planned change of job or the expectation of a future residence permit does not replace the necessary status. At the same time, there is no blanket requirement to wait another five years each time a new permit is issued. We therefore record your residence history and the procedure concerning your current title separately.

If an application for an extension or a different residence permit is made in time, the previous permit may continue under § 81 paragraph 4 AufenthG. Subject to the statutory conditions, this continuation prevents a gap even though the printed expiry date has passed. The Fiktionsbescheinigung serves as proof of this statutory effect.

Other statutory effects deeming residence lawful or continuing must be assessed separately. In particular, deemed lawful residence under § 81 paragraph 3 must not be treated as equivalent to holding a specific permit without examination. Special provisions may also limit the effect of an application. What matters is the particular application, when it was received and the applicable statutory rule, not simply the term “Fiktionsbescheinigung”. Details are set out in § 81 AufenthG.

Permission to remain during asylum proceedings (Aufenthaltsgestattung) and tolerated stay (Duldung) are not suitable residence permits for naturalisation by entitlement. They also differ from one another: tolerated stay suspends deportation, whereas permission to remain during asylum proceedings concerns residence during the asylum procedure. Neither many years of tolerated stay nor permission to work automatically turns this into a residence permit.

Likewise, a positive protection decision and the residence permit to be issued afterwards are separate decisions. Someone recognised as a refugee or entitled to subsidiary protection must provide evidence of their resulting current status under residence law. A residence permit under § 25 paragraph 2 AufenthG is assessed differently for the status requirement discussed here from one under paragraph 3.

Which earlier periods of asylum proceedings can later be taken into account is an additional question. It relates to the duration of residence and must not be confused with the suitability of the current permit. The article on periods of study, training or permission to remain during asylum proceedings addresses how these periods are classified.

Changing jobs, separating from a partner or leaving Germany for a longer period does not automatically lead to loss of the right of residence in every case. However, these events may affect the conditions on which it is based. We therefore assess changes against your particular title and its ancillary provisions. A distinction must be made between a condition for granting the right no longer being met and the right actually expiring or being revoked by the authority.

Such a change can also affect other naturalisation requirements. After losing a job, for example, residence may remain secure while the separate livelihood assessment requires new evidence. Conversely, sufficient income does not mean that a residence-law problem has been resolved. The two procedures involve different statutory assessments.

If a residence decision refuses or revokes a right, we promptly clarify its effects. Under § 84 AufenthG, simply lodging an objection or bringing a court action does not generally preserve the previous status. In particular, legal remedies against refusal of an application for a permit or its extension do not have suspensive effect. Nor is a special statutory continuation for employment purposes the same as a permit continuing without restriction for naturalisation. The decision, its notification and, where applicable, the specific court decision are decisive. We therefore present pending legal protection alongside the residence history.

We review both sides of your current document, the supplementary sheet and the underlying decision. The exact provision, including subsection and sentence, matters: “employment permitted” describes a permission, not necessarily the residence purpose. We distinguish issue, validity-start and expiry dates. Where card and decision conflict, we clarify the effective basis with the foreigners authority. We include pending renewal or change applications and acknowledgements of receipt; for statutory residence rights, we examine evidence of the underlying conditions.

To calculate your residence duration, we also organise older documents chronologically. This makes it clear that a previously excluded permit does not necessarily mean a period that cannot be taken into account. It also reveals possible gaps that must be assessed under their own rules. The article on return deadlines and gaps in residence permits explains these situations.

Even when a family applies for naturalisation together, each family member has their own residence status. A parent's settlement permit is not also the child's settlement permit. Similarly, a spouse's suitable residence permit does not automatically establish the legal basis of your own residence. Each application therefore requires the respective documents and statutory rights.

The possibility of naturalisation together with a family member may affect the required duration of residence. However, it does not generally replace the other requirements. For children in particular, we therefore assess current titles, timely renewal applications and possible statutory residence rights together. This shows whether all family members are at the same stage of the procedure or whether individual questions need to be clarified separately.

Even with a settlement permit, identity, for example, must still be established independently. Language skills and the financial requirements must likewise be assessed under the rules of nationality law. Requirements that applied when a residence permit was issued are not simply transferred in their entirety into the naturalisation procedure.