How to Get German Citizenship Through Marriage

Marriage to a German citizen shortens the wait for naturalization but doesn’t hand you a passport. To get German citizenship through marriage, you apply under Section 9 of the German Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz) once you have lived legally in Germany for at least three years and have been married to your German spouse for at least two.¹ That’s two years earlier than the standard route. You still have to clear the same language, civic knowledge, financial, and character requirements as everyone else.

Who Qualifies Under the Spousal Path

Two clocks have to run out before you can file. You need three years of legal residence in Germany, and your marriage to a German citizen has to have lasted at least two years by the date of the application. The clocks run at the same time, so if you married before or shortly after moving, you generally become eligible around the three-year mark.

Hitting those dates gets you to the door. Section 9 then pulls in the general conditions from Section 10, and you have to meet all of them:

German at B1 level, proven by a certificate from a recognized provider such as the Goethe-Institut, telc, or ÖSD.
A pass on the naturalization test (Einbürgerungstest): 33 multiple-choice questions on history, politics, culture, and law, with 17 correct needed to pass. The fee is €25 per attempt. You can skip the test if you completed a German integration course and passed the “Life in Germany” test, hold a German school-leaving certificate, or earned a German university degree; a doctor’s certification can also exempt you for reasons of illness, disability, or age.²
Financial self-sufficiency. You and any dependents must live without drawing basic income support (Bürgergeld) or social assistance. There are exceptions for applicants who have worked full-time for at least 20 of the past 24 months.³
A clean enough criminal record. Fines up to 90 daily rates or suspended sentences up to three months don’t block an application; anything above that generally does. Convictions for antisemitic, racist, or other offenses reflecting contempt for humanity are an absolute bar regardless of the sentence.⁴
A signed commitment to the free democratic order of the Basic Law, together with a declaration acknowledging Germany’s special historical responsibility for the National Socialist regime and its consequences, including the protection of Jewish life.³

You Can Keep Your Old Citizenship

The biggest change for spouses considering naturalization is that Germany no longer forces you to give up your existing nationality. The Act to Modernize Nationality Law (StARModG) took effect on June 27, 2024, and eliminated the old rule against multiple citizenship. Before the reform, most applicants had to renounce their previous nationality, with narrow exceptions for EU nationals and citizens of countries that don’t allow renunciation.⁵

Under the new rules, you are naturalized without being required to give up any other citizenships. German citizens who acquire a foreign nationality also no longer lose their German one, and the old retention permit system has been abolished.⁶

The reform is not retroactive. If you lost German citizenship before June 27, 2024, by taking another nationality without a retention permit, that loss stands.⁷

Documents You’ll Need to Gather

Assembling documents is usually the slowest part. At your first appointment with the citizenship authority you generally hand over originals, with certified German translations for anything not in German.² Expect to prepare:

A valid passport from your country of citizenship (EU citizens can use a national ID card).
Your marriage certificate, which anchors the spousal pathway.
Your birth certificate.
Proof of legal residence in Germany, including residence permits and registration certificates.
Your B1 language certificate from a recognized provider.
Your naturalization test certificate, or documentation of an accepted alternative.
Proof of financial self-sufficiency: employment contracts, recent pay slips, tax assessments, or bank statements.
Biometric passport photos.

Authenticating Foreign Certificates

Foreign birth and marriage certificates usually need more than a translation. Documents from countries that are party to the 1961 Hague Convention require a Hague apostille, issued by a designated authority in the country that produced the document.⁸ Translations themselves are not public documents and cannot carry an apostille; they must be prepared by a sworn or certified translator in Germany. Bring both the authenticated original and the certified translation to the appointment.

How and Where to Apply

Your application goes to the Einbürgerungsbehörde (citizenship authority) for your place of residence. Forms are typically on the office’s website or available in person, and most offices require you to book an appointment before submitting anything. Check the process at your local office early, since scheduling itself can add weeks.

Fill in the form completely and copy every document before you hand anything over. The application fee is €255 per adult. Minor children naturalizing alongside a parent pay €51; minors applying on their own pay the full €255.⁹

How Long It Takes

Processing is slow. The federal government cites a nationwide average of roughly 18 months, and individual cases can run longer depending on document complexity, the backlog at your local office, and mandatory security checks that currently take four to six months on their own.¹⁰ The authority may write to you for additional documents or clarification along the way, and a personal interview is sometimes part of the review.

If your application is approved, you receive a naturalization certificate (Einbürgerungsurkunde) and make a formal commitment to the Basic Law. From that moment you are a German citizen, and you can apply for a German passport and identity card at your local citizens’ office (Bürgeramt).

If the application is rejected, you get a written decision explaining why. Common reasons are insufficient language documentation, failure to meet the financial requirement, and criminal record issues. You can generally challenge a rejection through administrative remedies.

If the Marriage Ends Before You’re Naturalized

Divorce or the death of your German spouse doesn’t automatically shut the door, but the conditions tighten. Under Section 9(2), you can still pursue spousal naturalization only if all three of the following apply: you file within one year of the divorce becoming final or your spouse’s death, you have custody of a child from the marriage who already holds German citizenship, and you live with that child as a family unit.¹

If those conditions aren’t met, the spousal path closes and you’d apply under the general Section 10 rules instead, which require five years of legal residence rather than three. If you’ve already lived in Germany for five years and the marriage is on unstable ground, applying under the general path may make more sense, since it doesn’t depend on marital status at all.³

A divorce granted abroad is treated as legally nonexistent in Germany until the competent state justice authority (Landesjustizverwaltung) formally recognizes it. Until that recognition comes through, your marriage still exists under German law, a situation known as a “limping marriage” that can complicate both your citizenship timeline and any plan to remarry.¹¹

1
Gesetze im Internet. Nationality Act – Section 9
2
Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration. Key Facts on Naturalisation
3
Gesetze im Internet. Nationality Act – Section 10
4
BMI. Frequently Asked Questions: Reform of the Nationality Law
5
BMI. Nationality Law
6
Federal Foreign Office. The New Nationality Law as of 27 June 2024
7
Germany.info. Retention Permit to Keep German Citizenship When Naturalizing in the US / Dual Citizenship
8
Federal Foreign Office. Foreign Public Documents for Use in Germany
9
BAMF. Naturalisation in Germany
10
Landeshauptstadt München. Naturalisation – Einbürgerungsbehörde
11
Federal Foreign Office. Recognition of a Divorce Decree