In 2023 my wife and our children became German citizens via a declaration process called Staatsangehörigkeit § 5. The official paperwork came in the form of a document, an Urkunde über den Erwerb der deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit durch Erklärung, which we used to apply for Reisepässe.
The Urkunde durch Erklärung is very important, and will be needed to renew the passports. It is possible to replace it if something happens like fire or theft, but it isn't very straightforward to obtain the replacement. As Staatsangehörigkeit § 5 ends in 2031, we also worried about what would happen decades hence as memories of its existence fade. How difficult would it be to replace the Urkunde in 2050? 2060? Our kids have a long life ahead of them.
Therefore we decided to additionally file for birth certificates in Germany. These would be straightforward and inexpensive to re-order in the future as needed, and would serve as proof of citizenship to renew their passport. While at it, we also registered our marriage.
A civil records office in Germany is called a Standesamt, and registrations of foreign births are handled by Standesamt 1 in Berlin. The Berlin Standesamt 1 is famously backed up in processing submissions, we were advised to expect 2-3 years to process our forms.
Happily though, it effectively only took 5 months.
I say "effectively" because we missed the email of invoices to pay the Standesamt, until the Consulate sent them again 3.5 months later. So overall it took 8.5 months, three and a half months of which was on us.
| Jun 17, 2024 | Submitted forms at San Francisco Consulate. |
| Aug 2, 2024 | Consulate forwards invoices from Standesamt in Berlin, which we missed seeing. |
| Nov 18, 2024 | Consulate re-sends the invoices from Standesamt in Berlin, we paid the next day. |
| Jan 17, 2025 | Recording date listed on the certificates. |
| Feb 7, 2025 | Consulate receives the certificates from Germany. |
| Feb 28, 2025 | Certificates delivered to us. |
Costs
If you decide to do something similar, be aware that it is an expensive undertaking. Registering four births and one marriage cost 334 US Dollars in fees to the Consulate and a total of 630 Euros to Berlin Standesamt I. Altogether, the fees came to about a thousand US Dollars. It is not required to register these events in Germany, only choose to do so if you believe it will be worth it.
If one is planning to move to Germany, this cost would be partially offset by not needing to Apostille and translate one's US birth and marriage certificates for use at the local authority where one moves. We had already paid for these, to support our initial application packet for Staatsangehörigkeit § 14, but most people would not and would save the cost of doing so as part of a move to Germany. These cost approximately:
- $20 for a fresh copy of the certificate from California
- $20 for Apostille
- €65 for vereidigte Übersetzer(in) translation
Translation + Apostille of four birth certificates plus our marriage certificate was about $550, which is a bit over half of the cost of registering with Standesamt Berlin 1.