German Citizenship Application Stalled? Here's What to Do When the Authority Won't Act

If your German citizenship application has been sitting with the Einbürgerungsbehörde for more than three months without a decision and without a sufficient reason for the delay, you may be able to act. You can file an Untätigkeitsklage — an inaction lawsuit — under § 75 VwGO (Administrative Court Rules of Procedure) that seeks to require the authority to decide.

Filing may prompt the authority to prioritize the file, but timing varies and the case may not reach a hearing. The filing itself is the lever. You do not need a lawyer to file it.

This page covers when to use this option, how it works, and what happens after you file.

Why Applications Stall

Germany naturalized 291,955 people in 2024 — a 46% increase over the prior year. The surge has overwhelmed municipal citizenship offices that were staffed for pre-reform volumes. In Berlin, the LEA (Landesamt für Einwanderung) has a reported 2.8-year average backlog. Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart have similar profiles. Hamburg and Nuremberg process faster, but even they are under pressure.

The authorities' default position is to request more documents, ask clarifying questions, or simply let applications sit in queue. What they cannot do, legally, is indefinitely delay a decision on a complete application.

The key distinction is "complete application." An application is complete when you have submitted all required documents in the required formats and the authority has confirmed receipt. If the authority has been requesting additional documents that you have not yet provided, the three-month clock does not run on those periods.

If your application is complete and you have not received a decision or a sufficient reason for the delay, the Untätigkeitsklage may become available after more than three months from the operational start point used by the authority and court.

The Legal Basis: § 75 VwGO

Section 75 of the Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung (Administrative Court Rules) provides that if an authority has not decided on an application after more than three months and without a sufficient reason, the applicant may file a lawsuit at the Administrative Court without having to first exhaust an objection procedure (Widerspruch). The court may then require the authority to act; timing varies by court and authority.

German courts have consistently ruled since 2024 that chronic understaffing and high application volumes do not constitute a "sufficient reason" (zureichender Grund) for delay. This is an important development: earlier administrative practice sometimes treated general backlog as an excuse. Courts are now rejecting that position.

The Oberverwaltungsgericht NRW ruled in a 2025 case (19 E 310/25) that multi-year wait times for complete naturalization applications are not legally tolerable, even when caused by systemic overload. This ruling has been cited in subsequent cases across multiple states.

Step 1: Confirm Your Application is Actually Complete

Before filing, verify that the authority has your complete application. Request written confirmation — either a Eingangsbestätigung (receipt confirmation) or, if you submitted through a digital portal like Berlin's LEA system, the portal receipt showing all documents accepted.

If the authority has issued any requests for additional documents in writing, those must be fulfilled before the three-month clock is running cleanly. A partial request history muddies your position in any filing.

If you have not received written confirmation that your application is complete, send a written inquiry by email or the portal's messaging system — or by fax if the office uses that channel — asking for confirmation of receipt and completeness status. Keep the response.

Step 2: Document the Timeline

Compile:

• The date of your application submission
• The date the authority confirmed receipt (or the date you submitted, if no confirmation followed)
• Any subsequent correspondence — requests for additional documents, their fulfillment dates, automated status updates
• The date the application was fully complete (after all document requests were resolved)
• Count from that date. Once more than three months have passed without a decision and without a sufficient reason, you may be able to file.

The statutory period is measured from the operational start point for the complete application, not automatically from the date it was submitted. If documents were requested partway through, the timing may be assessed from when the last requested document was received.

Step 3: Send the Follow-Up Letter (Do This First)

Before filing the lawsuit, send a formal follow-up letter to the Einbürgerungsbehörde citing § 75 VwGO and requesting a decision within four weeks. This letter may trigger action. The authority understands that a § 75 reference signals an applicant who knows their rights and is prepared to escalate.

The letter should include:

• Your full name and date of birth
• Your application reference number
• The date of your application and any subsequent correspondence
• A statement that the application is complete
• A reference to § 75 VwGO and the three-month statutory period
• A specific request for a decision within four weeks
• A statement that you will proceed to file an Untätigkeitsklage if no decision is received within that period

Send by the portal's messaging system if available, or by fax to the office. Keep proof of delivery.

Step 4: File the Untätigkeitsklage if the Follow-Up Letter Does Not Produce Results

If four weeks pass after your follow-up letter with no response or decision, file the Untätigkeitsklage at the relevant Verwaltungsgericht (Administrative Court) for your city, provided the statutory conditions are met.

The filing petition should include:

• Your name and address as plaintiff
• The Einbürgerungsbehörde as defendant (with its official address)
• A statement of facts: when you applied, that the application is complete, that more than three months have passed without a sufficient reason for the delay, and that the authority has not responded
• The legal basis: § 75 VwGO
• Your request: that the court orders the authority to make a decision within a specific timeframe
• Supporting documents: application receipt, follow-up letter, any authority correspondence

Court fees apply to an Untätigkeitsklage, but the current amount depends on the court's fee calculation and the value of the matter. Confirm the current amount with the relevant Verwaltungsgericht before filing. If the court rules in your favor and orders the authority to decide, the authority may bear the court costs.

Filing by post to the Verwaltungsgericht is sufficient. You do not need to appear in person for the initial filing.

What Happens After Filing

The court registers the lawsuit and notifies the Einbürgerungsbehörde. The authority may respond by prioritizing the underlying citizenship application, but the timing varies by court and authority and the case may proceed to a hearing.

If the authority issues a positive decision (your citizenship application is approved), you can withdraw the lawsuit and the court costs are typically split or borne by the authority depending on how the judge allocates them.

If the authority issues a negative decision (your application is rejected), the Untätigkeitsklage converts into a standard review proceeding where you challenge the rejection. This is a different proceeding from the inaction lawsuit — you would then be challenging the merits of the decision, not just the delay.

If the authority does not respond to the lawsuit at all, the court may schedule a hearing and issue further directions requiring the authority to act. The timing varies by court and authority.

City-Specific Contexts

Berlin (LEA): The LEA uses its digital portal for naturalization applications, and follow-up should use the portal's messaging system where available. The portal allows you to attach documents and send messages. When citing § 75 VwGO in your follow-up message, include your application reference number from the portal. The LEA's backlog is the most severe in Germany — current reports put the average backlog at 2.8 years. The Untätigkeitsklage is disproportionately common in Berlin for this reason.

Munich (KVR): Munich conducts in-person interviews as part of its process. If your application has been received but you have not yet been invited for an interview, inquire specifically about the interview scheduling timeline. The interview is part of the process, not the decision — an unreasonable delay in scheduling the interview can also be raised in a follow-up letter.

Frankfurt: Frankfurt's Einbürgerungsabteilung/Ordnungsamt handles the local naturalization process. If you have not yet received an appointment, the delay may be at the appointment-booking stage rather than the processing stage. Confirm which stage your application is at before counting the statutory period.

Hamburg: Hamburg processes faster than most cities (6-15 months). An Untätigkeitsklage is legally available after more than three months without a decision and without a sufficient reason; use the follow-up letter first and assess the complete facts before escalating.

What the Untätigkeitsklage Does Not Fix

The Untätigkeitsklage forces the authority to make a decision. It does not guarantee a positive decision. If there are substantive problems with your application — missing documents, a livelihood calculation that does not meet the threshold, a pending security check — the authority's decision after the lawsuit may be a rejection rather than an approval.

Before filing, verify that your application is genuinely complete and that you meet the substantive eligibility requirements. The inaction lawsuit is a procedural tool, not a way to get a favorable decision on a deficient application.

Who This Is For

• Applicants in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, or Düsseldorf whose complete application has been sitting for six months or more without any substantive movement
• Those who have sent follow-up inquiries with no meaningful response
• Applicants who submitted during the 2024-2025 surge and are now past the one-year mark with no indication of when a decision will come
• Anyone who has received informal "sorry, we're busy" responses but no formal timeline or decision

Who This Is NOT For

• Applicants whose complete application has not been pending for more than three months — the statutory period has not yet elapsed
• Those who have outstanding document requests from the authority — complete those first
• Applicants who are being told their file is in active review and a decision is weeks away — give the process time before escalating

FAQ

Do I need a lawyer to file the Untätigkeitsklage? No. You can file the lawsuit yourself. The filing is a written petition submitted to the administrative court by post. A lawyer can draft a more polished petition, but the substantive content is straightforward and the legal basis (§ 75 VwGO) is settled law. Self-filing does not change the statutory remedy; whether the authority decides before a hearing depends on the court and authority.

What if the authority says they need more documents after I file? If the authority requests additional documents after you file the lawsuit, provide them promptly. If the request seems designed to reset the clock or is for documents you have already provided, note this in your correspondence with the court and in any future submissions. The court will assess whether the request is legitimate or delay tactics.

Can I file for other immigration decisions using this same process? Yes. § 75 VwGO applies to any administrative decision that has been unreasonably delayed — not just citizenship applications. It can be used for Niederlassungserlaubnis applications, Aufenthaltserlaubnis renewals, and other immigration decisions. The three-month period and the process are the same.

What's the success rate of the Untätigkeitsklage? There is no published national success rate. What is documented is that German courts have repeatedly upheld the right to use this mechanism and rejected "general backlog" as a sufficient reason for delay. The practical effect — authority prioritization of the file before a court hearing — is widely reported in the r/GermanCitizenship community and in legal commentary. Filing the lawsuit is the most effective lever currently available to applicants in a stalled process.

If I win the inaction lawsuit and get a decision, what happens to my application queue position? The inaction lawsuit does not change your position in the authority's processing queue — it creates a court obligation for the authority to issue a decision by a specific date, regardless of queue position. This is the mechanism that causes your file to be expedited.

The Germany Citizenship (Einbürgerung) Guide includes the complete Follow-Up and Untätigkeitsklage template package: a ready-to-use § 75 VwGO follow-up letter with fillable fields for your application details, a filing guide for the Verwaltungsgericht petition, city-specific notes for Berlin's LEA portal, Munich's KVR, and Hamburg, and the timeline framework for deciding when to escalate from letter to lawsuit. If your application has been sitting without movement, the templates give you the exact language to use at each stage of escalation.

See more Germany guides →