7 Arrested in Raid on Fake Citizenship Language Certificates
Published · Updated
Police and prosecutors in Bavaria have arrested seven people in a large raid on a network suspected of selling forged German language certificates for naturalisation. More than 350 officers searched over 30 properties, mostly in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Munich area, on Wednesday 21 October 2026. The Lower Franconia police headquarters and the Aschaffenburg public prosecutor's office announced the results on Friday 23 October 2026.
Six arrest warrants were carried out on Wednesday and a seventh on Thursday. The suspects are aged 26 to 46 and hold German, Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian or Romanian citizenship. Six are in custody, and for one the warrant was suspended under strict conditions. Officers found a professional forgery workshop with high-quality printers, a firearm with one suspect, a mid five-figure sum in cash and small amounts of drugs. Europol, the federal police and Austria's federal criminal police supported the operation.
Investigators have worked on the case since 2025 under a special unit called Kiosk. Around 50 people are under suspicion in total. The group allegedly supplied several hundred people with illegal language certificates, which are used in naturalisation procedures and in applications for a settlement permit. At first, completely forged certificates were handed in to immigration offices. After the offices began checking more closely, suspects allegedly sent stand-ins with forged ID documents to sit the language exams instead of the applicants. The cases are spread across Germany and reach into Austria.
What it means for applicants: immigration offices have been made more alert to forged certificates and to stand-ins at exams. The investigation started with people who allegedly used forged certificates, and it is continuing. Anyone applying for naturalisation or a settlement permit needs a genuine certificate from an exam they sat themselves. The evidence seized in the raid still has to be evaluated, and the presumption of innocence applies to all suspects until a final conviction.
Sources: WELT (AFP), Main-Echo (Polizei Unterfranken / Staatsanwaltschaft Aschaffenburg)
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