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Untätigkeitsklage Explained: Taking a Silent Office to Court

Fiona Macdonald
2 hours ago
5 min read

Untätigkeit means inaction, and a Klage is a court action. An Untätigkeitsklage (action for failure to act) is what you can file when a German authority, such as an immigration or naturalization office, has left your application undecided. It does not punish the office or pay you for the wait. It asks the administrative court to order the office to grant what you applied for, or at least to decide.

What the action is in legal terms

The word does not appear in the statute. The rule behind it is § 75 VwGO: normally a court action follows a decision you want to challenge, but if the authority has not decided within a reasonable time and has no sufficient reason for the delay, you may go to court without one. As a rule, that is possible once three months have passed since the application.

In immigration and naturalization cases the action is usually a Verpflichtungsklage (action for an order to grant). Under § 42 Abs. 1 VwGO, it seeks an order to issue an administrative act that was refused or never issued. The claim is concrete: an order that the office grant the residence permit, Blue Card, permanent residence or naturalization you applied for.

Who you sue and which court hears it

The defendant is not the caseworker. Under § 78 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 VwGO, the action is directed against the public body whose authority failed to act. Depending on how the Land has organized its offices, that is the city, the district (Landkreis) or the Land itself. Naming the authority is enough to identify the defendant. A few Länder let you sue the authority directly (§ 78 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 VwGO).

The case goes to the Verwaltungsgericht (administrative court) for the authority’s district; if the authority’s area covers several court districts, it goes to the court for the district where you live (§ 52 Nr. 3 VwGO). Visa applications at German embassies and consulates are the main exception: those actions are against the Federal Republic and go to the administrative court in Berlin (§ 52 Nr. 2 VwGO).

What the court can order

If the office has a sufficient reason for the delay, the court does not dismiss the action. It suspends the proceedings and sets the authority a deadline, which it can extend (§ 75 S. 3 VwGO).

Without a sufficient reason, the court decides whether you are entitled to what you applied for. § 113 Abs. 5 VwGO provides two outcomes. Where the case is ready for decision (spruchreif), meaning every requirement is established and nothing is left to the office’s judgment, the court orders the authority to grant the application. Otherwise it orders the authority to decide in line with the court’s view of the law. That second outcome is typical where the office has discretion, because the court then only checks whether the discretion was used lawfully (§ 114 VwGO). Naturalization under § 10 StAG is an entitlement, so an order to grant is possible once every requirement is established.

The court does not issue the permit or the naturalization certificate itself. It orders the office to do so. In practice many cases never reach a judgment, because the office decides once the action has been served. If the office refuses instead, the action does not succeed automatically; the question becomes whether you meet the requirements.

What an Untätigkeitsklage does not do

It does not get you compensation for the wait. Damages claims for a breach of official duty are a separate matter, which § 40 Abs. 2 VwGO assigns to the civil courts.

It is not a complaint about staff either. A Dienstaufsichtsbeschwerde (complaint to a supervisor about an official’s conduct) concerns the personal conduct of an individual official and cannot produce a different decision on your application. The Untätigkeitsklage is about the decision, not the person.

Nor does it protect your right to stay. If your permit is about to expire, apply for the extension in time: under § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG, your current permit then continues until the office decides (this does not apply to a Schengen visa).

Status inquiry or court action

A Sachstandsanfrage (status inquiry) fits while the usual processing time is still running, or when you suspect a document is missing. It is not a precondition for the action, but a dated inquiry and the office’s reply later show the court what the office knew.

The court action fits once three months have passed, your file is complete and the office has no real reason for the delay. Take an application for permanent residence filed in March: the office asked for payslips in April, you sent them within a week, and a status inquiry in July went unanswered. Nothing is missing on your side, and the three months are long past. If the office is still waiting for a document from you, send it rather than sue.

When to get a lawyer

It makes sense to seek advice when you are weighing the move from inquiry to court: the office has stopped answering, its explanation does not match your file, or a job or a move depends on the decision. A lawyer can judge whether the delay is already unreasonable for your office and type of application, identify the right defendant and court, and frame the claim so that the court can go as far as the law allows.

Bring an unresponsive office before the court

Fiona Macdonald files actions for failure to act on delayed residence permit, Blue Card, permanent residence and naturalization applications, at a flat fee, and tells you first whether a status inquiry or a court action is the sensible next step. Fiona Macdonald advises clients anywhere in Germany and internationally by video.

Related reading

Sources

Cover image: Bohao Zhao, 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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