germany immigration passport naturalization
Ways to avoid a running Naturalization application being forwarded to another municipality/city
<p>I have recently made a Naturalization application in Germany (1 month ago) in Bayern and am about to Move to Berlin in 2 months.  And after I do the anmeldung my application will also be forwarded to the Berlin office.</p>
<p>This appears quite hopeless to me since in Berlin my request will not be even looked at before the end of this year due to the centralization of the Einburgerung office in Berlin. Let alone normal cases, Berlin also has a significantly durable process on this topic compared to other cities, and can take years instead of months.</p>
<p>My question is, can you please suggest a few ways to me to keep my application running in Bayern not to be transferred to Berlin? Because otherwise, it would be really hopeless...</p>
<p>--Possible ways that I have thought of so far is mentioning my place in Berlin as a Zweitwohnsitz, but I doubt I can find a landlord to accept doing the Anmeldung with me in Bayern while I don't live there, and don't know about potential risks. Another option also not doing Anmeldiung for a while...</p>

<p>This answer is based on a legal greyzone and Berlin's notoriously inefficient bureaucracy. As @Trish noted, you are legally required to register your new residence within two weeks <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bmg/__17.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 17 BMG</a>. In some (most?) German states you can just walk into a Bürgeramt and register your new residence so it is perfectly straightforward to do that within two weeks and that is expected.</p>
<p>This is not the case in Berlin, you need to get an appointment to register and these are hard to get. I just searched online for Bürgeramt in Berlin, picked <a href="https://service.berlin.de/standort/122231/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one</a> and then you can choose the service your want (register new residence) and look at the available appointments. Right now on July 7th there were appointments available on exactly one date, September 1st. Note that this is nowhere near within two weeks.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, if you have an appointment at the Bürgeramt to register your new residence than current legal opinion is that you did fullfill the two weeks requirement regardless of when the appointment actually is. After all it is not your fault if the city doesn't offer a faster registration.</p>

<h2>Don't move.</h2>
<p>Your application is by law to be handled by the office that is responsible for your primary place of residence. The only lawful way to keep your primary place of residence at your old residence is to not move your primary place of residence.</p>
<p>Not (starting the process of) informing Berlin within <strong>two weeks</strong> that you are now a resident is violating <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bmg/__17.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 17 BMG.</a> Also, claiming a secondary residence when it is your first is a violation of <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bmg/__21.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 21 BMG</a>. <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bmg/__54.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 54 BMG</a> regulates that it is a misdemeanor to not handle the Anmeldung properly.</p>
