Research by German media has revealed that thousands of counterfeit certificates attesting language skills and successful integration into German society may be circulating in the country.
The fake documents are often used to obtain German citizenship or residency permits.
According to magazine Stern and TV station RTL today, the sale of counterfeit certificates has become a lucrative sector for organised crime in Germany. The transactions are typically initiated via social media such as TikTok.
Customers pay between €600 and €2,700 for documents which show that they have mastered a certain level of the German language or have successfully completed mandatory integration courses, according to the media outlets.
Passing these tests and receiving an official certification is a condition both for residency permits and obtaining German citizenship.
German journalists met vendors in three cities in July and August 2025 and obtained convincing but fake documents.
Speaking today, investigative journalist Liv van Boetticher said: “The TikTok merchants are experienced, offering their goods in a way that is almost tailored to demand and very service oriented. We could even have obtained a certificate for a fictitious Afghan woman living abroad.”
Several cases of certificate forgery have come to light in the past months. In early 2025, an Armenian woman was fined for providing a counterfeit language certificate in Elmshorn in Northern Germany.
In February 2025, three men received prison sentences between four and six years for selling counterfeit certificates in 500, perhaps even 1,500 cases.
Nevertheless, German authorities are reportedly not keeping any statistics on fraudulent documents in immigration procedures. The number of naturalisations of foreigners rose by 46 per cent in 2024 to 292,000 “new” Germans.
An immigration official from the state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) told the reporters: “An inexperienced employee will not notice that something is fake. He has no chance.”
A police officer told journalist von Boetticher today, under condition of anonymity: “At the moment, supply [of counterfeit certificates] is exploding.
“If the government and institutional authorities don’t start to acknowledge this, there will be migration and benefit fraud on an unprecedented scale if this system continues to function in this way.”
