14-month wait for German citizenship processing to START has passed and no news. What do do?
Hi, I applied for German citizenship in November 2024 in Darmstadt and I haven't heard anything since the initial acknowledgement letters.
At the time I received two letters:
- One from the Regierungspräsidium saying my application was received and that I should expect a ~14 month wait before processing even begins, and that I'd get a written notification when it does
- One from the city of Darmstadt (Bürger- und Ordnungsamt) confirming my file reference number
Both letters are dated 11.11.2024. The first letter specifically asked me **not** to send status inquiries as it causes further delays.
The 14-month window has now passed of course, and I still haven't received any notification that processing has started.
Is this timeline normal for Hessen / Darmstadt specifically?
Has anyone else been in this situation and received their start-of-processing notification later than the estimated 14 months?
At what point would you recommend sending a status inquiry, given they explicitly asked us not to?
Any advice from people who've gone through the process in Hessen would be really appreciated!