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civitas.
For migration counselling centres

More clients reach.

civitas. takes over the administrative part of Einbürgerungsberatung (naturalization counselling) — your advisors focus again on what they are qualified for. Fördertarif (subsidized rate) for recognized organizations: free of charge when BAMF or state funding is in place.

0
Fördertarif (subsidised tariff) for MBE, JMD and state-funded counselling centres
2×
Projected capacity increase per advisor without additional staff
6Languages
Wizard interface in DE, EN, TR, AR, RU, UK — output always in German
beratung.einbuergerungsservice.de/dashboard
Today · 7 appointments
Demo provider · sample data
Active clients
54
Ø 3.2 appointments
Waiting list
3.5Where
18 people open
Today · Appointments
Fatima Khalil · 09:00
Wizard step 9 · 3rd appointment
ARDE
Yevhen Koval · 10:30
Initial consultation
UKRU
Hamdan family · 13:00
4 people · § 10 + § 9
ARDE
The situation

Six structural challenges of migration advisory.

The reform of the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (Citizenship Act) has increased the demand for advisory services — staff, language mediation and IT budgets have not grown proportionally. The figures below are estimates based on publicly available BAMF data and conversations with provider organisations.

01 · Wait time
3–8Weeks

Between registration and initial consultation.

Average waiting times at German migration counselling centres range from three to eight weeks, depending on the region. For people with urgent matters — expiring deadlines, threatened loss of Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) — that is not reasonable.

02 · Administrative time
~60%

Administrative share in everyday counselling work.

A substantial share of advisory work goes into helping fill out forms, sorting documents and coordinating translations — activities social workers and lawyers were not trained for.

03 · Language mediation
60–90€/h

Costs and availability of Dolmetscher (interpreters).

Professional Sprachmittlung (language mediation) is expensive and not always available at short notice. Smaller Träger (providers) can often only afford a few hours per month — although the need is significantly higher.

04 · Funding reports
2–4Days

Per quarterly report and Verwendungsnachweis (proof of use of funds).

Funders such as BAMF or federal states require differentiated factual reports (Sachberichte) and proof-of-performance documentation. Manual aggregation from various sources consumes several person-days per quarter.

05 · Skilled professionals
Scarcity

Qualified personnel hard to recruit.

Intercultural social work, specialized migration law advice, multilingualism — the requirements profile is high, the salary level at non-profit organizations limited. Vacancies often remain unfilled for months.

06 · IT budget
≤ 500€/year

Typical digitization budget of small Träger (sponsoring organizations).

Software licenses, training, and IT support compete with direct advisory resources. Professional Fallmanagement (case management) systems are simply unaffordable for many Träger (providers) — although they would noticeably increase capacity.

Our answer

How civitas. addresses each of these challenges.

civitas. is not a replacement for counselling work — on the contrary: the wizard takes over the mechanical tasks so that your counsellors are once again available for substantive work. Human counselling, technically relieved.

01

Wizard in six languages.

Addresses: Interpretation · Waiting time

Clients fill in the Einbürgerung (naturalisation) application in their native language — German, English, Turkish, Arabic, Russian or Ukrainian. The Behörde-ready output is automatically generated in German.

This significantly reduces the need for interpreters: language mediation is only required for complex topics that need counselling, not for simply filling in the form.

02

Counsellors become companions.

Addresses: Administrative time · Specialists

Instead of filling out forms together, your advisors guide clients through strategic questions: which Unterlagen (documents) are still missing, which documents need to be obtained, how to handle a special case.

Projected capacity increase per full-time employee: approximately doubling the number of clients that can be supported without qualitative losses.

03

Förderberichte (funding reports) automated.

Addresses: Funding reports · IT budget

The system records counselling hours, performance indicators and target-group data in a BAMF-compliant manner. Quarterly reports and proof-of-use documents are generated at the push of a button — compliant with Annex V of the BAMF (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) guidelines.

Manual report creation typically drops from several days to just a few hours. Anonymisation options for privacy-sensitive analyses are built in.

04

Multi-user access including volunteers.

Addresses: Specialists · IT budget

Unlimited user accounts for your team: full-time advisors (Berater:innen), specialists, volunteer language mediators, student assistants. Role model with graduated rights — from full access to view restrictions.

This makes volunteer support possible at a low threshold without taking on data-protection risks.

05

Fördertarif (subsidised tariff) for recognised organisations.

Addresses: IT budget

Organizations with active BAMF funding (MBE, JMD), state-financed integration counselling (Integrationsberatung) or comparable grants use civitas. free of charge. Training, support and updates included.

The Fördertarif (subsidised tariff) is financed from the commercial part of our business (private use, authority and law firm cooperations). The non-profit layer is thus directly cross-subsidised.

The counseling dashboard · Demo scenario

Förderberichte (funding reports) as a by-product of day-to-day work.

Every documented consultation hour automatically flows into the grant usage reports (Zuwendungsnachweise, proof of fund usage). The following presentation shows a sample scenario with a fictional organization and target values from publicly available BAMF metrics.

civitas.
Demo counselling centre
Counselling portal · funding rate
MOM. Oppermann
Overview
Dashboard
Clients
Initial consultations6
Ongoing support cases54
Waiting list18
Completed
Projects
Förderberichte (funding reports)
Group consultations
Organization
Team & Volunteering
Statistics
Förderberichte (funding reports)
Grant proofs (Zuwendungsnachweise) · BAMF, state, special funds · Q2 2026 interim status
Volume Q2
92,000
Bound
38,500
Open
53,500
Rate
42%
BAMF · MBE 2026

Migrationsberatung (migration counselling) for adult immigrants

Approved 2026184,000 €
Personnel costs142,000 €
Material costs32,000 €
Q2 prorated46,000 €
Spent19,200 € · 42%
Land Berlin · Integration counselling

Landeskomplementärförderung 2026 (state-level co-funding)

Approved92,000 €
Group offerings28,000 €
Q2 prorated23,000 €
Spent19,300 € · 84%
Expected impact

Capacity leverage instead of headcount growth.

The figures below are target projections based on comparable digitalisation projects in the social sector. Your concrete values will be measured during the pilot phase together with your organisation.

Capacity
2×
That many clients per full-time advisor.

By shifting administrative tasks to the wizard, the number of cases that can be supported per full-time equivalent can roughly double — without compromising quality.

Waiting time
−50%
Expected reduction up to the initial consultation.

Higher throughput rates structurally reduce waiting lists. The average waiting time to a first consultation halves in the projection.

Förderberichte (funding reports)
−90%
Time required for quarterly reports.

Automated capture of BAMF performance indicators reduces manual preparation from days to hours. Several person-days are freed up per quarter.

Language mediation
−70%
Expected reduction in the need for interpreters.

The wizard handles translation of the form content. Language mediation is now only needed for complex counselling conversations, not for filling things in.

Fördertarif (subsidised tariff)

Free for recognised Träger (sponsors/entities).

Non-profit organisations should not have to cover digitisation-related technical expenses from their counselling budgets. That is why the Fördertarif (subsidised tariff) is financed from the commercial part of our business.

Accredited counselling centres with active public funding use civitas. completely free of charge. No hidden costs, no tiered limits on client numbers, no restrictions on functionality.

Tariff 01

Fördertarif (subsidised tariff)

0
Permanent

For organisations with active BAMF funding (MBE, JMD), state-funded integration counselling or comparable public funding.

  • Full functionality without restrictions
  • Unlimited user accounts
  • Unlimited client files
  • BAMF-compliant report templates
  • Onboarding and training included
  • Email support on business days
Tariff 02

Social tariff

120
Per month · small tier

For small non-profit organisations without BAMF base funding: associations, initiatives, neighbourhood centres.

  • Full functionality
  • Up to 5 user accounts
  • Up to 100 active client files
  • Basic report templates
  • 2-hour onboarding included
  • Email support on business days
Tariff 03

Large-volume tariff

from 450
Per month · association-wide

For state and federal associations with multiple locations: welfare associations, municipal alliances, organisation networks.

  • Multi-location administration
  • Consolidated association evaluations
  • Custom report templates
  • Single sign-on (SAML)
  • Dedicated contact person
  • Monthly review meetings
Integrations

Interfaces to existing Träger (provider) infrastructure.

civitas. does not replace case-management systems that your organization already uses — we complement them. Interfaces to common Fachverfahren (specialist procedures), funding administration and accounting are prepared.

BAMF
BAMF reporting

Automated generation of Anlage V (Annex V), narrative reports and performance indicators in a compliant format.

Available
DAT
DATEV

Integration with the provider's accounting — for sponsors using the DATEV standard. Bookkeeping allocation to cost centres.

Available
EB
Naturalisation authorities

Direct handover of completed applications to municipal authorities, provided they use civitas. Otherwise, export as PDF.

Available
RA
Partner Kanzleien (law firms)

Structured referral to Migrationsrecht (migration law) Kanzleien (law firms) in cases requiring Rechtsberatung (legal advice). Aktenübergabe (file handover) is digital.

Available
SSO
SAML / SSO

Single sign-on for organisation-wide use with existing identity providers — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Keycloak.

Available
?
Custom adapters

Proprietary case management systems or in-house Träger (provider) solutions — adapters configurable during the pilot.

On request
Frequent questions from sponsoring organisations

What typically comes up in the first conversation.

Answers to the five questions regularly asked in initial conversations with migration counselling organisations. We clarify further topics individually.

What exactly are the conditions of the Fördertarif (subsidised tariff)?

Free usage for Träger (sponsors) with active BAMF funding (MBE or JMD) and for Träger of state-funded integration counselling. Proof is provided once by submitting the current Zuwendungsbescheid (funding decision). Activation applies for the approved funding period and is extended with the Förderbescheid (funding notice). Switching between tariffs is possible at any time.

How is Datenschutz (data protection) regulated for client data?

civitas. is structured to be DSGVO-compliant: servers exclusively in Germany, end-to-end TLS encryption, AES-256 at storage level. Role-based access control for full-time and volunteer staff. Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag (data processing agreement, AVV) under Art. 28 DSGVO as standard. Consent texts and Schweigepflichterklärungen (confidentiality declarations) are preconfigured and adapted during onboarding to the specifics of your organization.

Can volunteers and language mediators get access?

Yes, at no additional cost. The role model distinguishes between full-time advisors with full case access, volunteers with topic-related viewing rights, and pure language mediators with appointment-based viewing. Confidentiality declarations are automatically presented and documented at first login — clean from a data protection perspective even with frequent turnover.

Do we need IT expertise or external support?

No. civitas. runs as a Managed Service — hosting, updates, security patches, and monitoring are on our side. The interface is designed for non-technical staff; experience shows that a two-hour online onboarding is enough to start productive use. Email support on business days within 24 hours; for urgent operational issues a callback within a few hours.

How does civitas. relate to our obligations as Zuwendungsempfänger (grant recipient)?

The reporting logic is aligned with BAMF guidelines — the performance indicators (number of clients, individual and group hours, target-group differentiation, referrals) correspond to Annexes V and VI of the current funding directive. Verwendungsnachweise (proofs of fund use) naturally remain your legal responsibility; civitas. provides the data basis, not the legally binding declaration. For questions about scope, we recommend consulting your funding body before going live.

Get in touch

Exploratory call for your Träger (provider).

In an initial conversation of around 45 minutes, we clarify whether your organization qualifies for the funding tariff, which integration fits your existing organizational system, and what a pilot would look like. The conversation is non-binding.