civitas. helps naturalization authorities to receive applications in a more structured and more complete form. Applicants enter their information through a multilingual wizard, which produces a uniformly prepared application bundle. civitas. is a private technical service provider and not a public authority – the review of and decision on every application rests solely with the competent citizenship authority.
Benefits for Naturalization Authorities
The wizard guides applicants through the required information in six languages (DE, EN, TR, AR, RU, UK) and produces a document checklist as well as an authority-ready application PDF. For the authority, this means:
- Structured, complete applications in a uniform format instead of inconsistent individual submissions.
- Multilingual intake at the source, which reduces communication problems in the application section.
- Fewer follow-up queries, because mandatory details and attachments are managed before submission.
Today, civitas. delivers authority-ready application bundles via established channels – for example by email, portal upload, or following postal instructions. A direct handover into the specialist case-management system is part of the further integration strategy.
Interfaces (in Preparation)
Official interfaces are currently in preparation and not yet in productive use.
The aim includes, among other things, adapters to specialist case-management systems (e.g. AKDB OK.VORFAHRT, Infoma newsystem) as well as an OZG-compliant connection via the federal gateway. Specifically: "XÖV output and FIT-Connect connection are in preparation; API documentation on request." XEinbürgerung as a data standard and FIT-Connect as a transport gateway are two separate layers here. civitas. is not FIT-Connect-approved, and none of these connections has yet gone live for any authority.
Data Protection and Technology
Regardless of the state of integration, the following foundations already apply today:
- Hosting in Germany – exclusively with Hetzner Online GmbH in Nuremberg, no data transfer outside the EU.
- Encryption – TLS 1.3 throughout in transit, AES-256 at the storage level.
- Multi-tenancy – each authority is its own, fully isolated tenant with granular role and access rights and auditable access.
- Data processing on behalf of the controller – a contract under Art. 28 DSGVO is provided as standard.
- No vendor lock-in – export of all data at any time as JSON.
Contact and Pilot Projects
Getting started usually takes the form of a time-limited pilot project based on a specific requirements profile. We provide technical documentation and the API documentation on request. An overview of the forms of cooperation and ways to get in touch is offered by the pages For Authorities and Partners.