Hi everyone, I would really appreciate some honest opinions and experiences regarding my German citizenship/Niederlassungserlaubnis situation because I have been overthinking it a lot lately.
I have been living in Germany since 2018, first as a student and later working full time since February 2022. From February 2022 until September 2023, I had a normal work residence permit. At the end of September 2023, I received my EU Blue Card with validity starting from 1 October 2023.
In June 2023, I was stopped by police on an e-scooter in a first-time DUI incident. My blood alcohol level was around 1.24‰ and THC was around 1.3 ng/ml. I later received the signed Strafbefehl/conviction in late November 2023, ordering me to pay 25 daily rates (Tagessätze), along with a 3 months driving ban, and later an MPU order by fuhrerscheinstelle in 2024. There was no accident, no injuries, and no repeat offences since then. I also did not have a driving licence in 2023 when this happened.
Since then, I have been fully cooperating and taking the MPU process seriously. I already received my first blood report with 0 alcohol. By the end of this year, I should complete all blood and hair screening reports, and I also plan to start working with a private MPU coach this year to prepare properly.
Apart from this, I also had a couple of minor administrative issues over the years, such as a small fine for late city registration and an expired e-scooter insurance issue (both administrative fines around €60).
One thing causing me anxiety is that during my Blue Card application in August 2023, I checked “no” on the question about investigations/criminal proceedings because at that time I genuinely did not yet know what would happen with the DUI case. Later, the conviction happened via Strafbefehl. Despite this, ABH still issued my Blue Card and recently even removed my employer restriction from my Zusatzblatt after an in-person appointment.
I recently consulted an immigration lawyer in Erfurt who previously worked for an Ausländerbehörde. She told me I am massively overthinking the situation and that I will “99%” get my PR because the offence is minor and below 90 daily rates. I have also hired a second immigration lawyer who is currently reviewing my full immigration file from ABH.
Still, I keep worrying about whether the conviction, MPU issue, old registration gaps, or unticked checkbox could create problems during PR or future citizenship applications.
Has anyone here had experience with PR or citizenship in Germany after a low-level first-time DUI or similar minor issues? How do ABH authorities usually view cases like this in practice? I would really appreciate respectful and realistic feedback.