German permanent residence and citizenship from South Korea: the 21/27-month mathematics and the 5-year road

Every article in this track funnels here. The Blue Card article ends at the settlement clock; the Working Holiday article ends at what the year converts into; the study article ends at the 18-month bridge; the Chancenkarte ends at the switch. This page is the end point itself — permanent residence (영주권, Niederlassungserlaubnis) and citizenship (시민권, Einbürgerung) — and the Korean-language sources around it drift more than any other stage, because 2024 changed the numbers twice and Korean blogs are still catching up: some carry pre-reform 8-year citizenship texts, others the now-abolished 3-year fast track. Here is the 2026 arithmetic, each line sourced.

Permanent residence: the two clocks Koreans actually ride

The 21/27 band is the Korea-relevant headline: a Korean engineer who reaches B1 inside the first Blue Card years files for settlement six months earlier — and B1 is the difference the same certificate keeps paying across every stage. The bands carry the standard conditions: secure livelihood, pension contributions, no serious criminal record. The exact requirements list is the Federal Government portal's own frame (make-it-in-germany.com ↗) and the receiving Ausländerbehörde assesses the file.

Citizenship: 5 years — and the 3-year track is a ghost now too

The 2024 reform cut the residence requirement for naturalization from 8 years to 5. The reform also carried a special fast track — 3 years for exceptional integration achievement — and that track is the second ghost in the Korean-language sources: it was abolished without replacement on 30 October 2025. Any page that still offers citizenship at 3 years, like any page still offering the blocked account at €11,208, is selling a number that expired before you read it. The 2026 road is: 5 years of lawful residence, a secure livelihood without benefits, B1 German, the naturalization test, and a clean record.

The arithmetic worth seeing laid out: a Korean engineer on a Blue Card who reaches B1 early can hold permanent residence at 21 months and file for citizenship at 5 years — the settlement permit is not a prerequisite for the 5-year naturalization clock, which runs on residence itself. For the study road, note that university time counts, though not at full weight for every purpose — the Einbürgerungsbehörde computes the exact credit. The single certificate both roads gate on is B1.

The Einbürgerungstest: 33 questions, 17 to pass

Dual citizenship: the German side says yes — the Korean side is your homework

Since 27 June 2024, German law allows naturalization without giving up the previous citizenship — multiple nationality is generally accepted on the German side (the Federal Foreign Office's own nationality page states it). What that means for a Korean applicant depends on the other half: whether the Republic of Korea permits its citizens to hold a second nationality is Korean nationality law — a question with its own conditions, timelines and reporting duties — and this page does not answer it. The honest framing is the one this track uses for every contested claim: the German side is documented above; the Korean side must be checked with the Korean authorities (or an accredited adviser) before you build a plan on keeping both passports. What the German side means practically: a Korean applicant is no longer blocked at the German gate by an obligation to renounce first.