33 questions, 17 correct answers to pass, 60 minutes, a fee of 25 euros. Who may retake it and who does not have to sit it at all.
The citizenship test is the part many people worry about most. The numbers behind it are smaller than the name suggests.
It does not test detailed knowledge. It covers the basics of law, society and history, plus three questions about the federal state you live in.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees publishes the complete catalogue of possible questions online, free of charge, together with a practice test. The real exam is assembled from that catalogue.
The test consists of 33 questions: 30 on the subject areas of living in a democracy, history and responsibility, and people and society, plus three questions about your federal state.
You pass with at least 17 correct answers. That is a little over half.
You have 60 minutes for all 33 questions. Each question offers four possible answers, exactly one of which is correct.
Sitting the test costs 25 euros. This is separate from the administrative fee the naturalisation authority charges later for the application itself.
If you do not pass, you can retake the test. There is no waiting period and no limit to a single second attempt.
Each attempt costs the fee again.
If you hold a German school-leaving qualification, you generally do not have to sit the test. The qualification counts as proof of the knowledge required.
A school-leaving qualification obtained abroad does not automatically have this effect, even if it has been recognised for other purposes.
Which qualifications count, and whether yours is one of them, is decided by the naturalisation authority. Ask there before you register and pay.
The form asks whether you have passed the citizenship test or the “Leben in Deutschland” test. You enclose the certificate with your application.
If you have not sat it yet, that is not a reason to wait: many authorities accept the application and request the certificate later.
Many people find the application the harder part: ten pages, more than four hundred fields, all of it in administrative German — a register the test does not prepare you for.
AmtWerk asks you for the details as plain questions in your own language and enters them, in German, into the official form of your federal state. At present that is North Rhine-Westphalia.
Last updated: 05.09.2026
AmtWerk is a form-filling aid, not legal advice. Whether a school-leaving qualification replaces the test in your case, and which documents are accepted as proof, is decided by the competent naturalisation authority.