Uploading documents to the Ausländerbehörde and for naturalisation

In short: there is no single portal. Every authority has its own online application with its own file limits, and what counts is the hint next to the upload field. PDF usually works, files are limited to a few megabytes each, and a multi-page document is best uploaded as one file. You can make that PDF on your phone, right in the browser, on the a4norm page.

Every authority has its own rules

Residence permits are issued by the Ausländerbehörde where you live; naturalisation is handled by the local Einbürgerungsbehörde. In Berlin both are the Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA). For people living abroad, the Bundesverwaltungsamt (BVA) takes citizenship applications through the federal portal.

Two examples show how much the limits differ (checked 24.09.2026):

Berlin asks you to have documents ready "möglichst im PDF-Format" and lets you photograph them during the application. Because of its 20-file limit, the BVA recommends putting multi-page documents — and a document together with its certification and translation — into one file.

Another city will have other numbers. Before preparing files, open the application and read what it says next to the upload field.

What is usually asked for

For naturalisation in Berlin the list is: passport or ID card; marriage certificate and other civil status documents, if any; for employees, the employment contract and payslips for the last six months; the health insurance card with photo; the tenancy agreement with proof of the current rent; a language certificate; as a rule, the "Leben in Deutschland" test certificate; and a registration certificate (Meldebestätigung). Depending on your situation, the LEA may ask for more.

Almost all of that is paper, several pages at a time. A tenancy agreement easily runs to ten pages, there are six payslips, and a certificate comes with its translation. Upload each page as a separate photo and the BVA's 20-file limit runs out fast, while the caseworker gets a pile of pictures in no particular order.

Preparing the files with a4norm

a4norm is a free scanner in the browser. A photo of a page becomes a straight A4 page: no desk, no shadows, white paper, and a blue signature or a stamp keep their colour. The photo never leaves your phone.

1. One document, one PDF. Photograph all pages of the document in order. On the a4norm page tap "Add photos", choose the photos or take them right there, then "Make the PDF". You get one multi-page file in the order of the photos.
2. Certification and translation in the same file. If a document goes with its certification and translation, photograph them in a row: the document, the certification, the translation. That is what the BVA recommends.
3. ID cards: both sides on one page. Photograph an ID card, a residence permit card or a health insurance card as two photos, front first: a4norm puts them on one page. How to mark the copy and what to cover is in the ID card guide.
4. Passport as a spread. Photograph the data page as the whole open booklet: it lands on an A4 page as a colour copy.
5. Tap "New scan" before the next document (the circular arrow; a second tap confirms). Otherwise the tenancy agreement and the payslips end up in one file.
6. Give the files clear German names: Reisepass.pdf, Mietvertrag.pdf, Gehaltsnachweise_2026-03_bis_2026-08.pdf.

Check the size. An a4norm page usually comes to a few hundred kilobytes, so a ten-page agreement mostly stays within a few megabytes. Under a 5 MB limit, though, a long document may not fit. Then split it where it makes sense, for example "Mietvertrag Teil 1" and "Teil 2".

Before sending, open every PDF and page through it: are all pages there, is the small print readable, is any edge cut off? How to take photos you will not have to retake is in the short photo guide.

What a PDF does not replace

• Originals and certified copies. The BVA says it plainly: evidence can only be provided with original or certified documents, and later in the procedure you may be asked to send them by post. In Berlin, for a spouse's residence permit, the LEA invites you to an appointment after reviewing the application and asks you to bring all documents listed in the invitation.
• The authority's decision. Whether a file is accepted is up to the authority. a4norm makes the page straight, readable and small — nothing more.
• Text recognition. The PDF holds a picture of the page, not text.

Where the photos go

Passport, salary, tenancy agreement — all personal data. On the a4norm page it goes nowhere: the photo is processed right in the browser, on your phone, and neither the photo nor the PDF is sent to my server or to a cloud. Check it in airplane mode. If you have many documents or need this often, you can install the scanner as an app.

The same scanner is in Telegram too: the bot @a4norm_bot, the "Scanner" button at the bottom left of the chat. There, too, the photo is processed on your phone. Only the finished PDF passes through my server, and only if you tap "Send to chat"; the server does not keep it.