Posted 8 May 2019 I have an appointment to drop off all my documents for my German citizenship application in Berlin. Does anyone have advice on how to make this appointment go more smoothly? For example, I have the application and the originals of all the documents in a big binder. Does it make sense to create another folder that is just copies of all these documents? Or do they want to take and keep the originals for the duration of the process? Or make all the copies themselves on the spot? Also, does it make sense to be prepared to hand them a USB stick with scans of all the documents? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 8 May 2019 I have a second question: On the Berlin form, there is an item that isn't ticked as necessary, but it is next to some items that I believe need to be brought to the document drop-off appointment: a handwritten Lebenslauf. Are we expected to provided this handwritten CV, and do they really still want you to write it out by hand? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 8 May 2019 They will want paper copies rather than anything digitally. Take the paper copies with you - they do not keep originals. Mine then went through the application form in order and looked at the original, checked it matched the copy, and took the copy. It would save time if everything is already in the order it is on the form, mine wasn't exactly the same and so I was constantly flipping through my binder looking for the right thing, as I'd ordered it in a way that made sense to me, rather than copying the form. I wasn't asked for a Lebenslauf of any kind, although I did prepare one just in case. Disclaimer: You're in Pankow and I was in Friedrichshain, so might not be the same. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 8 May 2019 Are you applying in Pankow? The Bezirke do things their own way in Berlin. If you let people know the Bezirk then you might get better answers. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 8 May 2019 Make copies of everything, stack it in the exact order that is on your sheet (they will go through it from start to finish). Have the copy and the original next to each other in the stack. Hand them both, they will check they are the same, stamp their copy and keep it, then hand you back yours. Oh I see evildudette just said the same thing, mine was in Bremen but they did exactly this, and it makes logical sense to do it in that order, so I can't see any reason why they should do it differently for you. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 8 May 2019 Thanks for the tips! Yes, I am in Pankow, and I'll start reordering my binder and making copies as suggested. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 2019 In my case it was slightly different. They went through everything they wanted, they wanted always the original (plus translation if applicable). They then kept everything for a few days while they submitted the application and then I could collect (or they would post) the documents, which was about 3 days later. The only things they didn't keep were passports/ID cards of myself and my (German) wife. They took copies of them immediately and handed them back. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 2019 16 hours ago, Berlinexpatnine said: I have an appointment to drop off all my documents for my German citizenship application in Berlin. When did you make that appointment? How long did you have to wait for it? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 2019 I made the appointment earlier this week. The Pankow system for giving out naturalization appointments is not for the faint of heart. They offer new appointments at a certain time of day on two days out of the week. Typically something like 4 or 6 new appointments are offered. When they open up the new appointments, you literally have less than 5 seconds to snatch one and try to fill out the robot detector question. This was about the 4th time my wife and I had tried to get an appointment over the past few weeks, and we each had 10 browser tabs open in order to hit refresh on each of them in turn to find the moment when the new appointments opened up. We then each went for a different appointment, but I was the only one to get to the robot detector question. I think I might have actually stumbled in answering the robot question but it gave me another chance and I got an appointment one month in the future. Anyway, it's an absurd situation, and good luck to anyone else trying to get an appointment in Pankow. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 10 May 2019 On 08/05/2019, 18:58:25, Berlinexpatnine said: does it make sense to be prepared to hand them a USB stick with scans of all the documents? No, but it would be great. They will look at you like Doc Brown telling Marty he's just come from 2055 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 14 May 2019 There's a Brexit meeting 19:30 Friday 17th May 2019, Bavaria Saal 2, Wirts-haus Am Bavaria- park, Munich http://www.berklix.eu/brexit/2019-05-17/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 On 28/04/2019, 13:44:38, john_b said: OK, how about this for a turnaround: Feb 21 first visit to Bürgeramt -- April 25 Einbürgerung green-lit... And today I got my Einbürgerungsurkunde at the Rathaus - exactly three months after I started. The whole event was good-natured, had some 19 different nationalities, including a couple of other Brits. Musical accompaniment on piano & cello, symbolic bread and salt distributed after the ceremony. Apparently very few if any of the other Berlin Bezirke go to this trouble, and my wife couldn't remember any of this at her own Einbürgerung two decades ago in Charlottenburg. Prost! 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 2 minutes ago, john_b said: And today I got my Einbürgerungsurkunde at the Rathaus - exactly three months after I started. The whole event was good-natured, had some 19 different nationalities, including a couple of other Brits. Musical accompaniment on piano & cello, symbolic bread and salt distributed after the ceremony. Apparently very few if any of the other Berlin Bezirke go to this trouble, and my wife couldn't remember any of this at her own Einbürgerung two decades ago in Charlottenburg. Prost! Prost! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 Congrats! They don't do this in Friedrichshain, but I wish they did! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 Brilliant john_b, welcome to the club. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 4 hours ago, john_b said: And today I got my Einbürgerungsurkunde at the Rathaus - exactly three months after I started. Amazing. Congrats. I (finally) had my Einbürgerungs handover meeting today nearly 4 months after kicking this all off and having the delays involved in getting the B1 and Citizenship exams etc. They told me today to expect a 6 month turnaround (i.e. November). They said an optimistic view would be October, but no chance of a 3 month response. I had a weird day. There were 3 things I didn't have with me: 1. My Steuerbescheid letters for 2011-2017. I'd recently had a shredding session and figured I didn't need them. Wrong! I was lucky that I could drop into the Finanzamt and they wrre nice enough to print them out for me. 2. I had to go to the Job Centre and ask them to print me a confirmation letter that I'd never needed their services between 2011 (8 years ago) and now. Got that too. 3. I needed a letter from my Krankenversicherung to confirm I've been insured since 2011 (waiting for that). I can go back without a Termin to hand these over. So 6 months of hoping there isn't a no-deal brexit. It doesn't look likely but could still happen. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 21 May 2019 Every one of these posts gets me worried that I will be expected to provide all sorts of things that weren't requested in my initial meeting -- a "super" Meldebescheinigung going back perhaps 30 years and covering five Länder and five cities in my case, Steuerbescheide going back 10 years instead of the two I was asked for, confirmation letters from agencies like the Job Center that they say they are checking with anyway. It seems like they could suddenly want proof of de-registration of residence and ex-matriculation from every university I ever attended too. And will they also suddenly want all my foreign degrees translated if I hit the wrong person on the wrong day, and what else? The decentralization of the naturalization process is really unnerving as we all compare notes like this. I know Bavaria's requirements aren't relevant to Berlin, and they can't spring new requirements on us at the last second, but still. On the other hand, the treatment we get from decentralized Germany by all accounts is kinder and gentler than the treatment my country gives to foreigners in a completely centralized system. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 22 May 2019 7 hours ago, Berlinexpatnine said: Every one of these posts gets me worried that I will be expected to provide all sorts of things that weren't requested in my initial meeting ... It seems like they could suddenly want proof of de-registration of residence and ex-matriculation from every university I ever attended too. I know Bavaria's requirements aren't relevant to Berlin, and they can't spring new requirements on us at the last second, but still. Weirdly they didn't even ask me for any kind of school/university certificates from me. I had originals and copies with me ready. Maybe I'll get a follow-up communication telling me they forgot to ask. It was on my list of docs that I was required to bring. Like you said though Bavaria and Berlin ... different. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
