How to get a "Führungszeugnis"

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Führungszeugnis is a german word for a criminal record certificate, also called certificate of conduct (výpis z rejstříku trestů).

 I wanted to get maximum from my one-moth-long internship at the Max-Planck Institute in Bonn. So I tried to prepare everything for moving to Dormund in advance during the summer holidays. But just two hours before leaving home, I got an email from a secretary that she needs a copy of my Bachelor degree (it was an answer to my email sent 3 weeks before that). So I spent the last two hours in Prachatice by running around the town and trying to find someone who would be able to make a certified copy of my diploma with an embossed seal. I was quite surprised to be successful and to catch my bus to Prague. After this episode, I was convinced that I have all the required documents.

Four days later, already in Bon, I got another email from another secretary. She wanted a copy of my Bachelor and Master degree, too, but except for that, she also wanted a translated copy of my "Abiturzeugnis" (Really? Someone wants my report from high school now, when I have a Master degree?), "Geburtsurkunde", and  "Führungszeugnis". The first two were unpleasant but manageable through my parents. But how am I supposed to get the Führungszeugnis for which I have to apply personaly?

So, here is my "How to get a Führungszeugnis in Germany in 13 easy steps".

Führungszeugnis is too long, so call it just FZ.

  1. Google the closest czech consulate (Düsseldorf) and start to plan when and how to get there. Sent an email to the embassy. Realize that you can not get an FZ at an arbitrary consulate, only at an embassy.
  2. Google a czech embassy in Germany (Berlin). 
  3. Read that if you want to use your FZ abroad, you shouldn't requested it at an arbitrary CzechPoint, but at the FZ office in Prague. (What are the CzechPoints on embassies good for?)
  4. Start to think that it is probably easier to go to Prague than to go to Berlin. Particularly when the FZ from Berlin does not have to be sufficient.
  5. Start to plan the trip to Prague and realize how expensive and time-consuming it is.
  6. Panic.
  7. Discover that there is a closer embassy in Luxembourg. Decide that it has to be sufficient. Make an appointment there and buy train tickets (for 55 Euro if you are asking).
  8. Get an email from the german secretary saying that you might be able to get the FZ from an authority in Bonn; get this email the day before going to Luxembourg and exactly an hour after the end of the office hours. Don't believe it anyway, because you are not registered as living in Germany yet.
  9. Get up at 4.30 am and go to Luxembourg.
  10. Apply for your FZ at the embassy in Luxembourg and get it immediately. Hooray! 
  11. Reveal incidentially that you haven't come from Luxembourg but from Bonn. Find out that Bonn does not belong to the scope of authority of embassy in Luxembourg and that you were not supposed to get your FZ there.
  12. Go back to Bonn and ask for the price for translating your FZ to German. (The FZ from embassy is written in Czech, of course, what are you thinking?) Realize that it would cost you around 80 Euro.
  13. Go to the authority (BfJ) in Bonn. Arrange everything in 10 minutes and for 13 Euro. Your FZ will be sent directly to the secretary who demands it.
You may think that one could skip steps 1-12 and go to 13 directly. But it wouldn't be such a fun, would it?

Disclaimer: I have never ever get a certificate of conduct at the embassy in Luxembourg while not living in Luxembourg. It is not possible! (And I haven't used it anyway.)


Luxembourg


Luxembourg - Pfaffenthal

Luxembourg - recently renovated bridge


Trier - I have stopped there on my way back from Luxembourg

Trier - Porta Nigra, Roman city gate built after 170 AD (according to Wikipedia)

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