# Germany Citizenship — Longest Time Away Residency rule, Germany. Page: https://usecountr.com/trackers/residency-de-citizenship/ ## Summary To become a German citizen by naturalisation you normally need five years of lawful habitual residence in Germany. A stay abroad of up to six months does not interrupt that residence. One stay abroad of more than six months normally does, unless the immigration office set a longer return date and you came back in time. Your residence also normally ends when all your stays abroad together are longer than half of the required period. The citizenship authority of your town or district decides. - Limit: No single stay abroad longer than 6 months - Period: Each stay abroad, during the 5 years of residence you need - Second limit: All stays abroad together: not more than half of the required period - If you go over: Residence is interrupted, up to 3 earlier years can still be counted - Law: Nationality Act (StAG), sections 10 and 12b - Run by: The citizenship authority of your town or district ## Who it applies to - People who live in Germany on a residence permit and plan to apply for citizenship after five years. - People who travel for long periods to care for family in another country. - Employees whose company wants to send them abroad for several months. - Students and researchers who plan a long stay abroad during their years in Germany. - Remote workers who spend a large part of each year outside Germany. ## The rule Section 10 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) gives a right to naturalisation to a foreigner who has had lawful habitual residence in Germany for five years and meets the other conditions, such as language, income and a clean record. The period was eight years before the reform that came into force on 27 June 2024. A shorter three-year route for people with special integration results existed for a time and has been removed from the law again. Section 12b StAG says what happens to that residence when you travel. Under subsection 1, stays abroad of up to six months do not interrupt your habitual residence. After a longer stay abroad your residence continues only if you came back within a return date set by the immigration office (Ausländerbehörde). The same applies when you were late only because of compulsory military service in your home country and you came back within three months of leaving the service. The same subsection has a second limit. Your habitual residence normally does not continue when your stays abroad are longer than half of the residence period you need. For the five-year period this is two and a half years abroad in total, even when no single trip was longer than six months. Subsection 2 softens the result of a break. If you were abroad for more than six months and no exception applies, the authority can count up to three years of your earlier residence in Germany towards the required period. So a long absence does not always return you to zero, but it can cost you years. For citizens of the EU and the European Economic Area and their family members, the six-month rules of section 12b are replaced by the rule in the Freedom of Movement Act: absences of up to six months in total per year, and one absence of up to twelve months in a row for an important reason. Why it exists: Naturalisation is meant for people whose life is really in Germany. The residence period shows that you have lived there long enough to know the language, the society and the legal order. The absence rules protect that idea: a person who was away for most of the time has not built the same connection. At the same time the law accepts that people travel, so short stays abroad and stays approved by the immigration office do no harm. ## Counting the days You count each stay outside Germany on its own, from the day you leave to the day you come back, and compare it with six months. You also add up all stays abroad in the required period. 1. Find the day your five years of lawful habitual residence started. 2. List every trip outside Germany in that period with the day you left and the day you returned. 3. Check each trip: was it longer than six calendar months? For example, a trip that starts on 1 February is longer than six months when you return after 1 August. 4. For any trip over six months, check whether the immigration office had set a later return date and whether you came back before it. 5. Add up all time abroad and check that it is not more than half of the required period, which is two and a half years for the five-year period. How Countr counts it: Countr counts the days of your current stay outside Germany as one trip for Germany Citizenship — Longest Time Away and compares it with 180 days. The law says six months, which is 181 to 184 days depending on the months, so the app warns a few days before the legal limit and never after. When you return to Germany the count goes back to zero. The app does not know about a longer return date approved by the immigration office. This card does not check the second limit, the total time abroad. The second card of the pair, Germany Citizenship — Total Time Away, counts it: at most 912 days away in the last 5 years. If the app cannot see where you were on a day, the count starts again, so gaps in your data make the number smaller, never bigger. ## Examples ### A long visit home, back in time You leave Germany on 1 February 2026 to care for a parent and fly back on 20 July 2026. You were away for less than six months, because six months would end on 1 August 2026. Your habitual residence in Germany is not interrupted. The months abroad stay inside your five years. ### Six weeks too long You leave on 1 February 2026 and return on 15 September 2026. The stay abroad is longer than six months and you had not asked the immigration office for a longer return date. Your habitual residence is interrupted. The authority can count up to three years of your earlier time in Germany, so if you already had four years, you can lose at least one of them. ### Many short trips You work remotely and spend seven months of every year outside Germany, in trips of three to four months. No single trip is longer than six months. After five years you have been abroad for 35 months, which is more than half of the 60 months. Under section 12b your habitual residence normally no longer continues, and the authority can refuse to count the period. ## Exceptions - A stay abroad longer than six months does not interrupt your residence when you return within a date that the immigration office set for you. - Compulsory military service in your home country does not interrupt your residence when you come back within three months of leaving the service. - After an interruption, up to three years of earlier residence in Germany can still be counted (section 12b subsection 2). - EU and EEA citizens and their family members follow the absence rule of the Freedom of Movement Act: up to six months in total per year, or one absence of up to twelve months for an important reason. - Gaps in the lawfulness of your stay that came only from applying late for a first permit or an extension are ignored (section 12b subsection 3). ## Common misconceptions - "I can be away as often as I like when every trip is shorter than six months." No. Section 12b also looks at the total. When your stays abroad together are longer than half of the required residence period, your habitual residence normally does not continue. - "After one long absence all my years in Germany are lost." Not always. The authority can count up to three years of your earlier residence. You then need to complete the rest of the period again. - "A valid residence permit proves that my residence was not interrupted." The permit and the citizenship period are two separate questions. A permit can stay valid while the citizenship authority still finds that your habitual residence was interrupted, and the other way round. - "Six months means 180 days." The law says six months, not a number of days. Six calendar months are between 181 and 184 days. Counting 180 days, as Countr does, is the careful way to stay inside the limit. ## Questions and answers ### Does a short visit to Germany in the middle of a long stay abroad start a new six months? The law speaks of stays abroad of up to six months, so a real return ends one stay abroad. The authority still looks at where your life is. If you only fly in for a few days and leave again, it can decide that your habitual residence was no longer in Germany. ### How do I get a longer return date from the immigration office? You ask your local immigration office before you leave and explain the reason and the planned return. If it sets a later date in writing and you come back before it, section 12b treats your residence as continuing. ### Do holidays abroad count towards the limit of half the period? Yes. The second limit speaks of stays abroad in general, so all time outside Germany is added. Normal holidays are far below the limit of two and a half years in five. Countr counts this total in Germany Citizenship — Total Time Away. ### Does time in another EU country count as time in Germany? No. The Nationality Act asks for habitual residence in Germany itself. A stay in France or Spain is a stay abroad in the same way as a stay outside Europe. ### What happens if I am away for one day more than six months? The law has no tolerance for a small overstay. Without an approved return date the stay counts as longer than six months and interrupts your residence. The authority can then count up to three years of your earlier time. ### Is the rule the same for the settlement permit and the residence permit? No. Whether a permit ends after time abroad is decided by section 51 of the Residence Act. That is a separate rule, tracked in Countr as Germany Residence Permit — Time Away. ## Sources - [Nationality Act (StAG), section 12b, interruptions of residence](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stag/__12b.html) - [Nationality Act (StAG), section 10, right to naturalisation](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stag/__10.html) - [Freedom of Movement Act (FreizügG/EU), section 4a, absences](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/freiz_gg_eu_2004/__4a.html) - [Federal Government, the new nationality law in force from 27 June 2024 (in German)](https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/einbuergerung-2215610) --- Countr is an app for iPhone that counts your days in every country for visa, tax and residency rules, from the photos on your phone and your location. It explains rules and counts days. It does not give legal or tax advice. https://apps.apple.com/app/country-days-tracker-countr/id6810720800