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Untätigkeitsklage Costs: Court Fees, Lawyer Fees and Who Pays

Fiona Macdonald
1 day ago
5 min read

€511.50 is the court fee for a typical Untätigkeitsklage (action for failure to act) over a residence permit, and €849 for one over naturalization. You pay it when you file. Who bears it in the end depends on how the case ends: if you could expect a decision before you filed and you end the case once the office decides, the law puts the costs on the authority.

How the court fee is calculated

Court fees follow the Gerichtskostengesetz (GKG, Court Fees Act) and depend on the Streitwert (value of the case), which the court sets. Where the case gives no better basis, the value is €5,000 (§ 52 Abs. 2 GKG). Courts can also draw on the Streitwertkatalog (schedule of case values), a set of non-binding recommendations last revised in February 2025. It suggests €5,000 per person for a temporary residence permit such as a Blue Card, €7,500 per person for a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) and €10,000 per person for naturalization. Where several family members sue together, the values are generally added.

The value is converted into one fee using the GKG fee table, last raised with effect from 1 June 2025. One fee is €170.50 at €5,000, €238 at €7,500 and €283 at €10,000. An action at the Verwaltungsgericht (administrative court) carries 3.0 fees (No. 5110 of the GKG fee schedule). That gives €511.50 for a residence permit or Blue Card, €714 for a settlement permit and €849 for naturalization.

When you pay the court fee

The fee falls due when the action is filed (§ 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 GKG). The court fixes a provisional value at once (§ 63 Abs. 1 GKG) and asks you to pay three fees on that basis; a final cost statement follows when the case ends. The civil-court rule that an action is served only after payment (§ 12 GKG) does not apply in administrative court proceedings. The fee is still owed from the day you file.

When three fees become one

Many actions for failure to act end without a judgment: the office decides while the case is pending, and both sides declare the case settled (Erledigungserklärung). Under No. 5111 of the fee schedule, the fee then falls from 3.0 to 1.0, but only in defined situations. The relevant ones here are a withdrawal, a court settlement, or settlement declarations after which the court makes no cost decision or follows the parties’ agreement on costs or one party’s declaration that it will bear them. If the court has to decide on costs itself because the parties disagree, all three fees remain.

So if the authority declares that it will bear the costs, the court fee falls to €170.50 for a residence permit, €238 for a settlement permit and €283 for naturalization.

Who pays in the end

For an Untätigkeitsklage, § 161 Abs. 3 VwGO contains a special rule: if the office decides only after you have sued and you then end the case, the authority always bears the costs, provided you could expect a decision before you filed. That protects you when the office acts only after being sued. It does not help if you filed before the three months under § 75 VwGO had passed. Without it, the court decides on costs at its discretion after a settlement, taking into account how the case stood (§ 161 Abs. 2 VwGO). After a judgment, the losing side pays (§ 154 Abs. 1 VwGO). Whoever withdraws an action bears the costs (§ 155 Abs. 2 VwGO), so once the office has granted your application, the settlement declaration is the right step, not a withdrawal.

Costs include the court fees and each side’s necessary expenses, including lawyer’s fees (§ 162 VwGO). Authorities usually act through their own staff, so if you lose, their recoverable expenses are generally small. Where the costs fall on the authority, it reimburses the court fee you advanced and your recoverable lawyer’s fees; on application, the court fixes the amount (§ 164 VwGO).

Lawyer fees and legal aid

You do not need a lawyer at the administrative court (§ 67 Abs. 1 VwGO). Fiona Macdonald charges €1,500, a flat fee, plus the court fee advance shown separately. The fee covers the whole action until a decision or judgment; there is no hourly billing on top. A separate appearance fee (Terminsgebühr) can become payable if the court schedules an oral hearing. In the vast majority of these cases that does not happen, and Fiona Macdonald would tell you as soon as the court schedules a hearing.

Lawyers’ fees are otherwise set by statute, in the Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz (RVG, Lawyers’ Fees Act). If the authority has to bear the costs, it generally reimburses lawyer’s fees only up to that statutory amount, whatever fee you agreed, and every fee agreement must say so (§ 3a Abs. 1 RVG).

If you cannot afford the costs, you can apply for legal aid (Prozesskostenhilfe) under § 166 VwGO with §§ 114 ff. ZPO. It is granted where your means cannot cover the costs, or only in installments, and the action has sufficient prospects of success and is not frivolous.

When to get a lawyer

Advice is most useful before you file, because the cost outcome turns on timing and on how the case ends. A lawyer can judge whether you could already expect a decision, so that § 161 Abs. 3 VwGO applies, and can close the case with a settlement declaration and a cost declaration from the authority rather than a contested cost decision.

Know the full cost before you file

Fiona Macdonald files actions for failure to act on delayed residence, Blue Card, permanent residence and naturalization applications at a flat fee, with the court fee advance shown separately, and explains before filing what you pay up front and when the costs can fall on the authority. Fiona Macdonald advises clients anywhere in Germany and internationally by video.

Related reading

Sources

Cover image: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Last reviewed: October 2026 — RAin Fiona Macdonald

This article reflects information available at the review date above and may not remain current as rules and practice change. It is general information only, not legal advice, and does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Liability for reliance on its contents is excluded to the extent permitted by law.

© 2026 Fiona Macdonald Rechtsanwältin

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