Inquiry Regarding Eligibility for Naturalization (Einbürgerung)

Question

arrived in Germany in December 2013 and applied for asylum.

In May 2016, I received my first negative asylum decision. I filed an appeal against this decision, and until the beginning of 2018, I held the status of Aufenthaltsgestattung.

In 2018, I was granted Duldung. After that, I received an Ausbildung (vocational training) contract, but I did not receive permission from the Landratsamt to start the training. Due to this delay, I submitted an Untätigkeitsklage (action for failure to act) to the court.

As a result, in 2019, I was granted an Ausbildungsduldung. I then submitted an application for a residence permit under §25b Aufenthaltsgesetz. This application was approved in December 2021, and I received my residence permit in February 2022.

In 2022, I successfully completed my Ausbildung.
In 2025, I applied for permanent residence (Niederlassungserlaubnis) under §26 Abs. 4 Aufenthaltsgesetz.  I have now permanent residence para 26 abs 4

My question is whether I am eligible to apply for naturalization (Einbürgerung).?

Answer 1

Hi @Zichako

At present you are not eligible for naturalization. For this you need five years of legal residency. There was until recently a possibility for faster naturalization after three years (commonly referred to as ‘Turbo-Einbürgerung’) but this has been removed from the law.

The periods spent with the status of Aufenthaltsgestattung, Duldung and Ausbildungsduldung cannot be counted towards these five years as they are not considered full legal residency. The relevant basis for this is paragraph 10 of the naturalization law (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz). The first requirement listed there is that it applies to:

“Foreigners who have been legally ordinarily resident in Germany for five years”

https://***.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stag/englisch_stag.html#p0058

There may be some confusion as the rules are different when calculating the required time you needed for permanent residency. For permanent residency, the authorities can at their discretion include the time spent in the asylum procedure, even if the final decision was negative. For naturalization, the time in the asylum procedure is only counted if the person received full recognition as a refugee.

In my view, you will fulfil the eligibility of five years of legal residence in Germany in December 2026. You may have not received your actual first legal permit until February 2022 but the decision was made in December 2021 and I would date your legal residency in Germany from that date.

Best,

Éanna