The abbreviation BVA stands for Federal Office of Administration. The Federal Office of Administration deals centrally with administrative tasks that are the responsibility of the federal government. As the individual federal states are generally responsible for naturalizations, the Federal Office of Administration only processes naturalization applications that are submitted from abroad. The Federal Office of Administration is also responsible for applications for the retention or release of German citizenship, as well as applications for the determination of the (non-)existence of German citizenship or the acquisition of a declaration.