The Cost of Becoming German

As the old German saying goes: "Was kostet der Spaß?".

The administrative process of becoming German (Einbürgerung) costs €255 per person or about 196 British pounds. If you are a child becoming a citizen together with your parents it only costs €51. Children who are becoming citizens on their own have to pay the full price. Just out of interest - it costs over 1000 British pounds to apply for UK citizenship!

You will also have to prove you speak "adequate" German which you can do with some kind of language certificate "Sprachzertifikat". Most Volkshochschule (VHS) offer these exams for about €125 - they also offer preparation courses. The CEF level B1 is the minimum level required to support your application.

To become German you also need to show that you have successfully passed the citizenship test (Einbürgerungstest) which costs €25 per attempt.

As a German citizen you are required to have an ID card. For adults over 24 this costs €28,80 and is valid for ten years. The normal German Personalausweis is also a passport for travel within the EU. If you think you will be travelling outside the EU a full German passport for adults over 24 costs €59 and is also valid for ten years.

Bear in mind that there are set appointments for both the citizenship test and language tests so take that into account when making your plans.

Adding all that together, as long as you don't need any additional language courses and pass your test first time the whole process of becoming a German national and getting an ID card will cost about €435.