You can come to the legalisation office at the Embassy in London or the Consulate General in Edinburgh to have the copies of your documents certified and to hand in your application in person. The legalisation office will then forward your application to the competent department. Please note that the staff of the legalisation office cannot provide any advice on citizenship matters. If you have any questions before submitting your application contact the Embassy or Consulate General.

Certification is free of charge for all citizenship applications at the Embassy or Consulate General. You can book an appointment here:

Legalisation Offices at the Embassy and the Consulate General

Alternatively, you can contact a German Honorary Consul near you for certifications. This may incur a fee.

Click here to contact your local Honorary Consul for further information.

Required documents

For the certification of your copies and documents you will need to bring:

• Your original documents
• Two photocopies of each document
• Valid passports of the applicants

A third option is to have your copies certified by a notary public and send your application by post. Please be aware that copies cannot be certified by institutions such as the post office or your bank.

Once certified, you can post your application to the following address:

German Embassy London
Citizenship
23 Belgrave Square
SW1X 8PZ

Consulate General Edinburgh
Citizenship
16 Eglinton Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 5DG

Please note that original documents will not be returned. We therefore recommend submitting certified photocopies instead.

Please note that all foreign documents that are not either in English or German will have to be translated by a certified translator. The Embassy, the Consulate General and Honorary Consuls do not provide translation services. Translators accepted by the BVA can be found e.g. on the website of the Institute of Linguists in London.

Average processing times

Current processing times for applications for German citizenship have risen considerably due to the worldwide increase in applications. They also vary according to the kind of application and the complexity of each individual case. There is therefore currently no such thing as a normal processing time.

Useful links

Copies of UK naturalisation certificates and further useful information can be found on the website of the UK National Archives.

For marriage and birth certificates you might be able to contact the local authority at the place of marriage and birth respectively. In Germany, this is the local Standesamt (Registry Office), or, if dating back further, the relevant city archives. Some of the Standesamt websites offer services to order these documents online.

For certificates of citizenship and the necessary research, the German Military Archives might be a useful resource.

Contact information

Please use the contact form provided.