What are the requirements for German citizenship in 2026?

Five years of lawful habitual residence, a qualifying residence permit (a permanent residence permit, an EU Blue Card, or a regular permit such as a skilled-worker permit; only certain temporary permits like study or asylum are excluded), a clarified identity and nationality, self-sufficiency without welfare (with exceptions), B1 German, a passed citizenship test (Einbürgerungstest), a commitment to the free democratic order, and no relevant criminal record. This is set out in §10 of the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (StAG), the German nationality law.

Did the 3-year fast track to German citizenship end?

Yes. The three-year fast track, which rewarded strong integration, was repealed. The repeal was published in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 256) on 29 October 2025 and took effect the next day. Only the fast track was removed. The five-year standard route and dual citizenship both stay.

Can I keep my old passport when I become German?

Yes. Since 27 June 2024, dual citizenship is allowed for everyone naturalizing in Germany. You no longer have to give up your first nationality. The October 2025 change did not touch this.

How much German do I need for citizenship?

B1 on the Common European Framework. In the law this is §10(1) number 6 of the StAG, and §10(4) names the B1 level directly. You prove it with a recognized B1 certificate. Certain groups, the guest-worker generation and people with an illness, disability, or age barrier, have a lower or waived requirement.

How long does a German citizenship application take?

The law sets no processing time. Third-party trackers report rough averages of about a year, with some cities taking longer. Treat any number you see as an estimate from applicant data, not an official figure. Your local authority (Einbürgerungsbehörde) decides the real timeline.

German Citizenship Requirements in 2026: What Changed

If you are reading this, you probably have a plan that runs through German citizenship. A job that wants it. A family that lives here. A vote you want to cast. And you want to know two things: what the rules are right now, and whether the news you half-remember from 2025 changed them.

Here is the short version. Then the details, each one traced to the law it comes from.

The requirements right now

To naturalize on the standard route in 2026, you need:

Five years of lawful, habitual residence in Germany
A qualifying residence permit: a permanent residence permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis), an EU Blue Card, or a regular residence permit such as a skilled-worker permit (§18a/§18b of the Aufenthaltsgesetz). The rule is broad: almost any permit counts. §10 excludes only a short list of temporary-purpose permits, such as study, asylum, and short-term or humanitarian stays
Your identity and nationality clarified
The ability to support yourself without state welfare (with exceptions, below)
B1 German, a recognized certificate at that level
A passed citizenship test, the Einbürgerungstest (naturalization test), which is not as hard as it sounds
A commitment to the free democratic order, including a clause added in 2024 acknowledging Germany’s responsibility for the Nazi past and the protection of Jewish life
No relevant criminal record

Every one of these lives in a single place: §10 of the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (StAG, the German nationality law). You can read the full §10 text yourself; it is public.

What changed in October 2025

For most of 2024 and 2025, there were two headline routes: the five-year standard track, and a three-year fast track for people who integrated especially well, meaning strong German, volunteering, that kind of thing.

The fast track is gone.

The repeal was published in the Federal Law Gazette as BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 256, dated 29 October 2025. German laws take effect the day after they are published unless they say otherwise, which puts the change in force on 30 October 2025. You will see some pages say “November 1.” That is wrong: the gazette record shows 29 October publication.

This is the part that matters, and the part other sources tend to skip:

Only the three-year fast track was removed. In the live text of §10, the fast-track paragraph now reads simply “(weggefallen)”, meaning dropped.
The five-year standard route stays. It was not touched.
Dual citizenship stays. More on that next.

One more point, and this one is worth being careful about. Legal-advice sites report that there is no transitional rule, meaning applications filed before 30 October 2025 under the old three-year rule are now judged under the new law. That reading is consistent across the migration-law commentators, but it is not something I can point you to in a single official line, so treat it as their reading, not as settled fact. If your case turns on it, ask your Einbürgerungsbehörde (the local naturalization office) directly.

Dual citizenship: still allowed

This is the change people most often get wrong in the other direction: they think the October 2025 repeal rolled it back. It did not.

Since 27 June 2024, everyone who naturalizes in Germany may keep their existing nationality. You do not have to renounce your old passport. The 2025 change removed the fast track and left this alone.

Self-sufficiency, and who is exempt

The rule is that you support yourself and your dependents without drawing certain welfare benefits. But §10 carves out real exceptions, spelled out in the statute:

The guest-worker generation and their spouses, meaning people who came to West Germany under a labor-recruitment agreement before 30 June 1974, or to East Germany as contract workers before 13 June 1990, are excused from the self-sufficiency requirement if their need for benefits is not their fault.
People in full-time work for at least 20 of the last 24 months, and their families, also qualify for relief.

These are not soft guidelines; they are written into §10(1) of the StAG.

One common mix-up worth clearing up: there is no pension-contribution requirement for citizenship. You may have heard about needing 60 months of paid-in pension contributions. That rule belongs to the permanent residence permit (the Niederlassungserlaubnis under §9 of the Aufenthaltsgesetz), not to naturalization. For citizenship, §10 only asks that you can support yourself and your family without welfare. How many months you have paid into the pension does not enter into it.

The German requirement, and its exceptions

The language bar is B1, the “independent user” level on the Common European Framework. The law names it plainly: §10(1) number 6 requires “sufficient” German, and §10(4) defines that as meeting a B1 exam. Not every certificate is accepted, though, so we break down which B1 certificate counts for citizenship (Goethe, telc, DTZ, ÖSD) and the DTZ scoring rule most sites get wrong.

Two groups get relief here too:

The same guest-worker generation above: for them, §10(4) says being able to get by orally in everyday German is enough, with no written exam.
People who cannot meet the bar because of a physical, mental, or psychological illness or disability, or because of their age, are excused from both the language and the test requirements under §10(6).

Beyond that, there is no general “it was too hard for me” escape clause. §10(4a) lets the language bar drop to oral-only in a proven hardship case, but that is a narrow reduction, not a waiver.

If you are starting from zero and B1 is the wall in front of you, that is the real center of this whole process. It is also the part you can actually control. Our B1 German course is built for exactly this deadline, and if you want to know how long it realistically takes, we wrote a full timeline breakdown: how long it takes to reach B1.

Special routes: spouses and children

Two shorter paths exist alongside the five-year rule:

Spouses and registered partners of Germans (§9): three years of lawful residence and a marriage or partnership that has lasted at least two years. All the other §10(1) conditions, including B1 and the test, still apply.
Children born in Germany (§4(3)): a child born here acquires citizenship at birth if a parent has lived in Germany lawfully for at least five years and holds a permanent residence right. If that fits your family, your child may already be German and need no application at all.
Your minor children, naturalized with you (§10(2)): when you naturalize, your children under 18 can be naturalized on your application, at the same time, even if they have not lived in Germany for five years themselves. The law says this in so many words. A young child is not expected to pass B1 or the citizenship test; they qualify through you. So if you have your five years and a three-year-old born here, your child comes along on your application.

Fees and where to apply

The fee is set by law, in §38 of the StAG:

€255 per adult
€51 for a minor naturalized together with a parent

You apply at your local Einbürgerungsbehörde, usually part of the city or district administration where you live. They collect your documents, check the conditions, and make the decision.

On processing time: the law sets none. You will find trackers quoting rough averages of about a year, with some large cities noticeably slower. Those are estimates built from applicant reports, not official service standards. Your own timeline depends on your authority and your file.

The citizenship test

The Einbürgerungstest is 33 multiple-choice questions, and you pass with 17 correct. The questions come from a published catalog of 460 (300 general questions that are the same nationwide, plus 10 for each federal state), so in practice you only study 310 (the 300 general ones plus your own state’s 10). Because the catalog is public, you can practice every question in advance.

We built a free practice tool for exactly that: practice the full Einbürgerungstest catalog, no signup, in your own language. For most people this is the easiest requirement to clear. If you want the full picture of how hard it really is, we cover that in a separate post: is the Einbürgerungstest hard?

The one requirement worth starting today

Look back at the list. The residence years pass on their own. The test you can pass with a few weeks of practice. The paperwork is paperwork.

The one thing that takes real, sustained time is the German. B1 is not a formality. It is months of steady work, and no amount of application prep substitutes for it. If citizenship is your goal, the smartest thing you can do this week is start the language, not the paperwork.

That is the whole reason this site exists. When you are ready, start with the B1 course, or see what B1 actually involves first.