What foreign students should know about applying for German citizenship

Whether it's the lack of tuition fees, the excellent job opportunities or the thrill of studying in Europe's largest economy, Germany is a hugely popular place for international students. 

According to data from the Federal Office of Statistics, more than 600,000 student visas were handed out between 2006 and 2021, and around a third of these students end up staying in Germany long-term.

For many of these, getting hold of a German passport is the ultimate dream. 

Nevertheless, the landscape for students - or former students - can be confusing. Does the time spent studying count towards your years of residence, and can you even apply for citizenship while on a student visa? 

Here's what you need to know.

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How studying affects your residence

Under Germany's current rules, people generally need eight years of residence to apply for German citizenship - or six in exceptional circumstances. This is likely to be shortened to a maximum of five and a minimum of three under a new draft law being worked on by the Interior Ministry. 

However, it's common to hear that the time you spent studying will be treated differently from other periods of time spent in the country, with officials 'halving' your study time when you apply for citizenship. 

So if you spent four years completing a Bachelors' degree or Masters at a German university, and then worked for another two, you may wonder whether your time as a student only counts as two years - leaving you with four years of "official" residence instead of six.

However, according to immigration lawyer Sven Hasse, this isn't the case at all. 

"Once you switch to another residence permit, it is possible to naturalise and the student years count fully," Hasse told The Local.

One reason for the confusion could be the fact that student years are halved when you apply for a permanent residence permit, he added. 

Another is the fact that certain states - most notably Saxony and Bavaria - used to regularly apply this rule to people who were applying for citizenship. However, the Federal Administrative Court later found that there was no legal basis for applying this rule when it came to naturalisation. 

In short, that means that whether you studied for eight years or just two, your time spent studying should count fully towards your application. 

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Can I apply for citizenship while I'm studying? 

This is where things are a little bit trickier, especially for non-EU students who need a permit to study in Germany. 

That's because people on student visas aren't allowed to apply for naturalisation - even if they fulfil all the other requirements. 

According to Hasse, however, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for most people. It's just important to change your status as soon as you finish studying, for example by applying for a skilled workers' visa.

Once you receive your new residence title - and provided you tick all the other boxes - there should be nothing stopping you applying for citizenship.

For EU citizens or Brits who are entitled to EU-style residence after Brexit, things are a fair bit simpler - and it shouldn't necessarily be a problem if you're registered on a course at the time you apply.

However, officials may want you to prove that you can support yourself and any immediate family members financially and will likely want to find out what you've been doing during your time in Germany.

"With EU citizens it's a little bit more difficult to prove their centre of life, because there is no residence permit needed, you just register," says Hasse. "That means they may want to see that you worked or that you studied to make sure that you haven't just registered, left again and after eight years applied for naturalisation. That's of course not possible."

In these cases, proof that you are - or have been - a student, could actually be key to proving that you exercised free movement and have a right to naturalisation. 

What's in the new citizenship law? 

As The Local has been reporting, Germany is currently in the process of massively revamping its citizenship rules. 

In a draft law obtained by The Local, the Interior Ministry sets out plans to permit dual nationality, reduce the amount of residence needed for citizenship and ease language requirements for over-67s.

Unless there are major changes, the new citizenship law doesn't appear to change much for students - though it may mean they can get citizenship far sooner than they otherwise would.

For example, if a student completes a two-year Masters of Science at a German university and speaks German at a C1 level, they may be entitled to apply for citizenship just a year after graduating.

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Once again, the primary condition is that they are "on a residence titled aimed at permanent residence" - i.e. not a student visa - and that they can support both themselves and their family "without recourse to public funds". 

It is unclear what kind of public funds or benefits are meant here, but the general rule of thumb will be to prove you have adequate finances to look after yourself and any dependents. 

Do you have a burning question about citizenship or the new naturalisation law? Let us know and we'll try our best to answer it in a future article.