I applied for German citizenship early June 2024 and received a call in August 2024 confirming that my German citizenship application is successful and that my Einbürgerungsurkunde (German citizenship certificate) is ready to be handed over in Berlin.
What is the Einbürgerungsurkunde?
When you want to naturalise / become a German citizen, you must receive a Einbürgerungsurkunde. It is a certificate that makes you officially a German citizen. It is issued only once and you must keep the original copy safe. If you lose it, you can request for a certified copy of the Einbürgerungsurkunde for a fee of 51€. But the original certificate will not be reissued.
Picking up the Einbürgerungsurkunde
When you sign documents and pick up the Einbürgerungsurkunde at the Citizenship office (In Berlin, this is the Landesamt für Einwanderung), you are officially a German citizen. Before this is complete, there is a small process / ceremony.
I received an email containing the date, time & location for the appointment. Here is the translated copy:
The naturalisation procedure for you can now be completed by handing over the naturalisation certificate.
I would like to invite you on 28.08.2024 at 09:30 am at the State Office for Immigration, Sellerstr. 16, 13353 Berlin and take a seat in the waiting area on the ground floor. You will then be called in person.
Documents required
The letter of invitation
That was attached from the emailIdentity documents (passport, travel document, identity card, ID card)
This was my Indian passporta Biometric passport photo of the person to be naturalised
Residence permit
This was my Permanent Residence card (Niederlassungserlaubnis)
Day of appointment
I went a little early to the LEA location in Sellerstr. 16 and showed my invitation letter on my phone to the security at the entrance. They showed me the way to waiting room. There is no waiting number to pick up.
Einbürgerungszentrum in Sellerstr 16. Photo credits to All About Berlin.
You just wait there until someone calls you and you join them in their room. I brought a friend of mine to the appointment. I saw a lot of people bring their families (in some cases, 6 to 8 people). They were allowed to be inside the room at the time of receiving the Einbürgerungsurkunde. Some people were dressed up, I was not.
Exactly at the time of appointment, my case worker called me in and my friend joined me. We sat down, the case worker explained the process and this is how it went down.
I handed over my Indian passport and Permanent Residence permit
Case Worker verified the details and handed over the Indian passport back to me and mentioned that they will keep the permanent residence permit as it is no longer needed.
I verified my birthdate, name, address, etc. on a paper they gave me and signed it.
They explained that this document is only issued once and that I have to keep it safe
They handed me two pages to sign that explained and confirmed that I have to give up my Indian passport myself as India does not allow dual citizenship
They asked us both to stand and handed me a page that had the oath of roughly 2 lines of text and then I was congratulated on officially becoming a German citizen 🎉
They gave me a page containing my photo and date of birth, said I should take that & Einbürgerungsurkunde to a Bürgeramt to apply for the German passport & ID (Personalausweis)
My friend then took pictures of me inside the room with the Einbürgerungsurkunde
They also mentioned that they will inform the government offices about the change (Finanzamt, Arbeitsagentur, etc.). I will only have to inform my employer & bank to change my nationality. Or other places that are relevant for you.
Applying for German Passport in Berlin
In Berlin, you can book appointments online to apply for the German Passport at a Bürgeramt. This is how I did it.
On the same day of picking up Einbürgerungsurkunde, I checked the page above and chose "Berlinweite Terminbuchung" (Berlin wide appointment booking).
This showed me all the appointments available on the same day as well. It took around 10 to 15 minutes around 8 AM to find an appointment. All I did was refresh once in a while and chose a slot.
Documents required for German Passport
The page linked above lists a lot of documents as required. This is not true. I went to the Bürgeramt with:
Einbürgerungsurkunde and the page containing my photo
Indian Passport (still as my ID)
I handed them to the case worker / official at Bürgeramt and she congratulated me as well (pleasant experience!). I chose to apply for both the passport (Reisepass) and the ID at the same appointment. I chose to pay extra for Express Passport.
Expected processing times and fees were:
Normal Passport
4 to 6 weeks and it costs 72€Express Passport
4 to 5 working days and it costs 32€ extraID
3 to 4 weeks and it costs 37€
The case worker quickly processed it and mentioned the waiting times for me, gave me a receipt that included a tracking link and email notifications for the German passport. They told me that in a week or two, I will receive a letter for electronic ID (eID) and then a letter that the ID is ready to be picked up. To pick up the German passport, the only way I can verify myself is through the Indian passport.
Timeline for German Passport & ID
28.08.2024: Applied for German Passport (Express) & National ID (Personalausweis)
04.09.2024: Received an email from the portal where I signed up for notifications, that my passport is ready for collection. Went to the Bürgeramt where I applied, picked up a waiting number, then got the passport. Used my old Indian passport as ID to verify myself.
10.09.2024: Received a letter with the temporary PIN for the ID
12.09.2024: Went to the Bürgeramt again - same steps. Picked up my ID.
When my German ID changed from Permanent Residence to the National ID, the portals where I signed up using my previous ID stopped working. I had to click register again on the portal to authenticate myself again. This looks like standard process.
Change of signature?
In some cases (from Reddit & Facebook), I read that the German government expects you to change your signature by using your last name / surname to sign. For me, this was not the case. They did not suggest or ask me to change my signature.
Photo credits to All About BerlinW
