Nearly 600 German Citizenship Applications Deleted in Berlin Due to IT Failure

As the State Office for Immigration (LEA) explains, this issue has caused problems with the Berlin IT Services provider (ITDZ) used by the office, EU Helpers reports.

The same also reveals that all deleted applications were submitted after June 27, 2024, after Germany’s new dual citizenship law came into force.

Applicants Won’t Be Required to Pay €255 Fee for Reapplying

Such applications cannot be recovered, which means that applicants will have to submit their documents again. However, they are no longer obliged to pay the €255 fee associated with submitting the citizenship application.

Contrary to this, at the beginning of 2024, Berlin implemented a new policy of processing requests three times faster over last year for accelerated citizenship thanks to the digitization of the naturalization procedure. Previously, applicants of this category faced a long wait during their applications.

As a result, since its launch on July 14, 2024, LEA naturalised a total of 6,534 people in Berlin. Of the total number, 5,900 of them were naturalised since April 1, 2024 alone.

As Schengen.News reported, LEA is prepared to reach the target of 20,000 citizenship applications processed in Berlin by the end of this year. According to these data, from January 1 until mid-July, LEA received 24,000 naturalisation applications. During the second week of July, the authority processed 139 applications in a day.

Last year, only in the capital were 21,725 applications in the backlog, while only 5,000 were expected to be examined.

This new law also allows non-EU citizens with a German residence permit to naturalise after just five years in the country and after three years in exceptional cases without having to surrender their original citizenship.

Requirements for German Citizenship by Naturalisation

To be qualified for German citizenship by naturalization, the following criteria are necessary:

Living in Germany with a legal residence permit for more than eight years.
A stable financial situation means being able to support yourself and your family without needing unemployment, housing, or child benefits (Kinderzuschlag).
Not having a criminal record.
Have passed the naturalization test.
About to lose your previous citizenship.
Committed to the democratic principles of the German constitution.