Germany's criminal records are kept in one place, the Federal Central Register (Bundeszentralregister). What employers, landlords and visa offices abroad see is an extract from it, the certificate of conduct (Führungszeugnis), and it leaves some convictions out. The immigration and citizenship authorities can see more. Here is how to get the certificate, what it shows, when entries disappear, and what a record means for your residence permit.
1. Getting a certificate of conduct
Anyone aged 14 or over can ask for their own certificate (§ 30(1) BZRG). It is sent only to you, or directly to an authority if you ask for one to present to an authority (§ 30(4), (5) BZRG). The fee is €13 (no. 1130 JVKostG), and it is waived when the certificate is needed for certain voluntary work. There are three ways to apply:
- Online, through the Federal Office of Justice's portal (fuehrungszeugnis.bund.de), identifying yourself with the online ID function of a German ID card, an EU eID card or an electronic residence permit (§ 30c BZRG). A digital certificate is usually ready within hours, according to the Federal Office of Justice, unless checks are needed or it is a European certificate (section 6).
- In person at the registration office (Bürgeramt, Meldebehörde) if you live in Germany, with your ID (§ 30(2) BZRG). The paper certificate comes by post.
- From abroad, directly to the Federal Office of Justice (§ 30(3) BZRG), online or in writing with an officially certified signature, for example from a German embassy or a notary. The Federal Office warns that applications from abroad can take several weeks.
If a foreign authority needs an apostille or a legalisation, ask for the paper certificate: the Federal Office says these can't be added to the digital one.
2. Which certificate you need
- The ordinary certificate (Privatführungszeugnis), for an employer, a landlord or a visa abroad.
- The certificate for an authority (Behördenführungszeugnis), sent straight to the authority that asked for it (§ 30(5) BZRG). If it contains entries, you can have it sent first to a local court of your choice to read it there.
- The extended certificate (erweitertes Führungszeugnis), for work with children and young people. You need a written request from the employer or organisation confirming what it is for (§ 30a BZRG). It also shows smaller convictions for certain offences, such as sexual offences and offences against children, that the ordinary certificate leaves out (§ 32(5) BZRG).
If you only want to know what the register holds about you, you can ask for full information on all entries. You read it in person at the Federal Office of Justice, a local court you name or, from abroad, a German embassy or consulate; you can't take a copy away (§ 42 BZRG).
3. What the certificate shows, and what it leaves out
The register holds final convictions by German courts (§ 4 BZRG). A case that was dropped, including one dropped against a payment, is not a conviction. The ordinary certificate leaves out, among others (§ 32(2) BZRG):
- a fine of up to 90 daily rates, or a prison sentence of up to three months, if there is no other sentence in the register;
- a caution with a suspended fine (Verwarnung mit Strafvorbehalt);
- some juvenile sentences.
These exceptions do not apply to convictions for certain sexual offences (§ 32(1) BZRG). Convictions that do appear drop off the certificate after a set period, usually three or five years from the date of the first judgment, longer for serious sexual offences (§§ 34, 36 BZRG). They stay in the register itself for longer (section 5).
A fine is counted in daily rates, not euros: the number of rates reflects the offence, and the euro amount per rate reflects your income. That is why the 90-rate line is the figure to look at. Our guide to what happens after a police report explains how fines are set.
4. When you may say you have no record
You may describe yourself as having no criminal record (unbestraft), and need not reveal the facts behind a conviction, if the conviction does not go into the certificate of conduct, or only into a certificate for authorities, or if it is due for deletion (§ 53(1) BZRG). This matters in job interviews and on application forms.
It has a limit: towards courts and authorities with a right to the full register, you can't rely on a conviction being left out of the certificate if they tell you so (§ 53(2) BZRG). The immigration and naturalisation authorities are among them (§ 41(1) nos. 6, 7 BZRG). On a residence or citizenship application, answer the question about convictions as it is asked.
5. When entries disappear
Convictions are deleted from the register after a fixed period (§ 45 BZRG):
- five years for a fine of up to 90 daily rates when no prison sentence is registered, or a prison sentence of up to three months when no other sentence is registered;
- ten years for, among others, larger fines and suspended prison sentences of up to one year;
- fifteen years in all other cases, and twenty years for certain serious sexual offences (§ 46 BZRG).
Two rules stretch these periods. While several convictions are registered, none is deleted until all of them are due (§ 47(3) BZRG), so a new conviction can hold an old one in place. And an entry due for deletion stays in the register for one more year, visible only to you (§ 45(2) BZRG).
Once an entry is deleted, or due for deletion, the offence and the conviction may no longer be held against you (§ 51(1) BZRG). The Federal Office of Justice can also order early deletion on application, where the sentence has been served and the public interest does not stand in the way (§ 49 BZRG).
6. Convictions from other countries
- Foreign convictions in the German register. A final conviction abroad is entered if you are German or were born or live in Germany, and the act would also be punishable here (§ 54(1) BZRG). It is then treated like a German conviction for the certificate and for deletion (§ 56 BZRG).
- The European certificate. For citizens of another EU country and for non-EU nationals, the German certificate also includes what other EU countries' registers report, in the language they send it (§ 30b BZRG). This is why it can take longer: the other country has to answer first.
- Visas and jobs abroad usually need the German certificate plus a certificate from each country you have lived in. Ask the authority which ones it wants, and whether they need an apostille.
7. Your record and your residence permit
- The immigration office hears about cases while they are still open. Police and prosecutors must tell it when criminal proceedings start against a foreign national and how they end (§ 87(4) AufenthG).
- Residence. A conviction can count against your stay; the law weighs the public interest in expulsion against your ties to Germany (§ 53 AufenthG). The interest counts as serious, for example, after a final prison sentence of at least six months for intentional offences, and lower thresholds apply to some offences such as violence (§ 54 AufenthG). Our permanent residence guide covers the conditions for settling.
- Citizenship. Fines of up to 90 daily rates, and suspended prison sentences of up to three months that have been remitted, are generally disregarded; several are added together; and foreign convictions count too, under conditions, unless they would be deleted under German rules (§ 12a StAG). See the citizenship guide.
If a case is still open, its outcome matters more than anything else on this page: a case dropped, or a fine within the 90-rate line, can make the difference for a permit or a naturalisation.
8. When a lawyer can help
A criminal defence lawyer helps most while a case is still open, because the outcome decides what goes into the register. Once a conviction is final, a lawyer can check how the entry and its deletion date were worked out, apply for early deletion, and, together with an immigration lawyer, prepare for the questions a residence or citizenship application will raise.
Have the judgment or penalty order, your certificate of conduct and your residence documents ready. You can request an English-speaking criminal defence lawyer.
Sources checked on 17 October 2026. The linked provisions are the German statutory text; the explanations here are general information.