Why more than 1,600 Berliners sued the citizenship office last year
In 2024, the number of Berlin residents who resorted to legal measures to address delays in their citizenship applications surged dramatically.
According to recent data, 1,662 individuals filed formal complaints, known as "inactivity lawsuits" (Untätigkeitsklagen), against the German immigration authorities last year. This marks a staggering 313 percent increase compared to the 402 complaints lodged in 2023.
These statistics were disclosed in response to a parliamentary inquiry by Elif Eralp from the leftist Linke party, which was obtained and reported on by regional newspaper Taz.
Untätigkeitsklagen provide a legal avenue for individuals to challenge government agencies when they fail to act within a reasonable timeframe.
In the context of citizenship applications, applicants can file such a lawsuit if they have not received a decision within three months of submitting their paperwork, though costs for lawsuit only tend to be reimbursed after six months of waiting.
Why have there been so many complaints?
Berlin's immigration offices have been struggling with chronic understaffing and an influx of naturalisation requests for years, leading to huge backlogs and delays in process applications.
In an effort to address the issue, the city's senate announced in late 2022 that it would centralise citizenship applications in a newly established center under the Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA), rather than relying on the overstretched boroughs. It also digitalised its processes and launched a new online application system.
However, this transition led to a temporary halt in processing, leaving a backlog of approximately 40,000 applications - some of which had been pending for half a decade or more.
When the centralised office finally opened in January 2024, it partly lived up to it promises, processing new applications at breakneck speed. Previously contacted by The Local, the LEA said it had approved 21,802 applications for naturalisation last year, compared to the 8,000 that were processed the year before.
However, the citizenship office refused to say how many of these applications were part of the previous 40,000 backlog, and there is strong evidence to suggest that online applicants have been prioritised over their predecessors in order to skew the statistics.
'Presenting high naturalisation figures for online applicants was, unfortunately, more important than a just process for everyone,' Eralp told Taz. He added that many older applicants had been told to re-submit an application online, which involved an additional admin fee of €255.
A woman checks her card details while completing a purchase online. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/ZHPH Production / Stocksy United | N26 GmbH
In a recent post on the Einbürgerung in Berlin (Naturalisation in Berlin) Facebook group, one applicant revealed that she originally submitted her application in May 2023 and waited more than a year and a half before deciding to sue.
After filing an Untätigkeitsklage through a lawyer in January, she received an email within a matter of weeks, informing her that she could pick up her certificate of naturalisation in the near future.
How legal action can speed up the process
Under German law, most administrative processes like naturalisation applications should be handled and completed within three months.
As The Local has repeatedly reported, it's rare that the authorities meet this deadline, but that doesn't mean the courts take a lenient approach when applying the law.
In fact, administrative courts in Germany have consistently ruled that staffing shortages, high application volumes, and time constraints are not valid excuses for excessive delays in naturalisation.
This legal stance has empowered many long-waiting applicants to take action. Frustrated by the apparent two-class system at the LEA citizenship office and the lack of progress on their cases, a significant number of individuals have turned to Untätigkeitsklagen as a last resort.
If these lawsuits are successful, the authorities reimburse legal and administrative fees and must process the application in question within a matter of weeks. If not, the person who files the suit is liable for their own legal costs and must continue waiting for their application to be processed.
According to Eralp, the naturalisation issue is particularly important in Berlin, where the number of residents who don't hold a German passport leads to "massive democratic deficits".
For foreigners who move to Germany and settle in Berlin, a visit to the Berliner Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA) is ultimately unavoidable. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Britta Pedersen
Around a quarter of the capital's 3.8 million residents are non-Germans, meaning they don't have voting rights in the majority of elections.
"These people are not involved in decisions that affect them," the Die Linke politician said.
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