How to get a "Führungszeugnis" authenticated - Germany

Hello,

I am currently in the process of applying for a green card, and to do this need police reports of good conduct from both the UK and Germany. I have one from the UK that was easy to organise, however the German one is proving more tricky.

I have filled in the form, and transferred the 13 euro to the requested account. However it asks me for an authentication 'seal' at the bottom. Where do I get this? I live in Berlin. Any help would be magnificent, thank you.

Also, if anyone knows if I need to have this report translated for the green card, that would be useful also. I hope to not have to pay too much or wait too long for this!

Best,

P

The seal comes from the Govt./Amt that forwards the Request to the Office that prints out the Führungszeugnis. It is not for you.

So I just have to send it to them with no seal? Thanks for getting back to me.

Hi,
I am facing a similar problem. I made payment of 13 Euros and send the letter to Bonn. I would like to know how long it takes to get the document? The original one without Apostille took only 2 days, so I am hoping this takes max one week.

thanks

It depends how busy / asleep they are. The last one I got took about 2 weeks...but then I handed in the application (and cash) personally to the Munich office (Kreisverwaltungsreferat), so I don't know how much of that time was the delay in them forwarding it to Bonn.

If I remember rightly, I wanted to hurry it up, but couldn't find a telephone number, email address or anything where I could enquire, so just ended up waiting.

A guy who started working at the same company as me on the same day applied for his in some Bavarian countryside office and received it within a couple of days. So I don't know if it really was about the forwarding time, or if the fact that he was German made his processing time faster.

In any case, there's not a lot (anything) you can do to make them process it any faster.

Thanks for your reply, although I must admit it made me a nervous.
Two weeks would be a lot of time. Perhaps there is something I can do. I already have an earlier Führungszeugnis which is still valid. I could take a train to Bonn (or wherever I can get it Apostatized), and perhaps get it in 2-3 days. Does anyone have experience with this method?
If so, kindly let me know the office to visit and what to say to them.

What exactly is the "Kreisverwaltungsreferat"? Is it like the Burgerbüro (where I submitted my application)? They told me the process is as follows:

Note: I think Überbeglaubigung = "legalization with Apostille" and Führungszeugnis = "police clearance certificate".

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I have to make an application for a "Führungszeugnis mit Überbeglaubigungat" at Burgerbüro. The Führungszeugnis will be made and forwarded to the authority that does the Überbeglaubigung. In the application I have to indicate the country for which I need this.

Interestingly, they didn't charge me for a fee of 13 Euros, which I think is because I paid the fee last week for a Führungszeugnis without Überbeglaubigung (I got this in two days, but found out that I need it legalized). I hope this lack of fee does not cause any delays.

I have to make a bank transfer of 13 Euros to the Department of Justice in Bonn and send the receipt along with a paper I got in Step 1 to an address in Bonn (which I presume is the authority issuing the Ãœberbeglaubigung).

After the authority receives the letter sent in Step 2 and the Führungszeugnis sent in Step 1, they will put a Überbeglaubigung on it and send it to my home address. Quite simple... isn't it?



Was this something similar to your process? It seems you paid in cash and gave the application+fee to the same agency. In my case, I had to make the payment on my own.

ok! I finally got the Fungszeugnis with Uberbeglaubigung and Apstille in 3 days!

Just another case of "where there is a will there is a way"

Here is my experience. This may prove useful to someone.

Step 1. Apply for a Fungszeugnis WITHOUT Uberbeglaubigung
This should arrive in 2 working days.

Step 2. Take this Fungszeugnis to the following address in Bonn and
ask for a "Uberbeglaubigung" for whatever country you need it for.

Federal Office of Justice
Visitors Service
Adenauerallee 99 =96 103
53113 Bonn

They will put a stamp.
Then they will ask you to go to Koln to the Administration office for
the Apostille

(ask the address from them. I lost the paper where it was written).
This process takes 2 minutes.

Step 3. Take the above paper with the stamp and go to the office in
Koln and ask for Apostille. They will ask for 13 Euros and give it very soon (5-10 minutes).

This step takes less than 20 mins.

Step 4. Good news!!! There is no step 4. You are done. Simple. Isn't it? [no pun intended ;-)]

Even though this process may seem complicated, it is quite simple and the positive thing is that you get the Apostille the same day once you have the Fungszeugnis in your hand.

It is also not too expensive if you can find a cheap ride via http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de

Note: this is not the only way, but it is the fastest way. The conventional method is to apply for a Fungszeugnis WITH Uberbeglaubigung and wait for 2 weeks. I am still waiting for it to arrive using this method (10 days now). Fortunately, I had also applied for a Fungszeugnis without Uberbeglaubigung out of foresight.

Note: this is not the only way, but it is the fastest way. The conventional method is to apply for a Fungszeugnis WITH Uberbeglaubigung and wait for 2 weeks. I am still waiting for it to arrive using this method (10 days now). Fortunately, I had also applied for a Fungszeugnis without Uberbeglaubigung at the same time because I somehow anticipated this.