Recognition of late-resettler status is one of the central areas our law firm handles. The subject is so multifaceted and broad that we never tire of sharing new stories with our readers — any small detail in these cases can turn a routine, textbook process into a story that deserves special attention in its own right.
Even when several family members are pursuing late-resettler status at the same time, that doesn't necessarily mean a single unified process will handle all of them. Sometimes the cases have to branch off and proceed in parallel for one reason or another, since the outcome of one often directly affects the course of the other. We describe exactly such a case in this article.
Appealing BVA Refusals
A refusal by the Bundesverwaltungsamt (BVA) to recognize late-resettler status can be appealed before an administrative court — typically within one month of receiving the refusal.
A young man, Anatoly (name changed), came to our firm having already received a refusal from the Federal Administrative Office of Germany for resettler affairs (Bundesverwaltungsamt, BVA) regarding his application for late-resettler status. The refusal was based on the finding that his German ancestry — the key requirement in late-resettler cases — had not been proven. During the consultation, Anatoly told our lawyer his story and mentioned that his father also wanted to obtain late-resettler status and intended to file his own application with the authority.
After reviewing and analyzing all of Anatoly's documents, our lawyer concluded that it was not merely advisable but essential for his father to file an application for late-resettler status, since the outcome of Anatoly's own case would directly depend on the decision regarding his father. A petition to reopen Anatoly's case should also be filed. This strategy rested chiefly on the fact that proving the father's German ethnicity would not be difficult, primarily because Anatoly's grandmother had already been recognized as a late resettler and had lived in Germany until her death. Once the father's resettler status was secured, Anatoly could then easily establish his own legal status derived from it. But things don't always go as planned.
According to our client, his paternal grandmother had, in her time, obtained late-resettler status and moved to Germany. Anatoly's uncle soon joined her under the family-reunification program. Years later, she passed away, and all the documents proving her status remained in the uncle's possession. To Anatoly's and his father's great surprise, when they asked the uncle to provide these documents, he categorically refused. This is, of course, a family matter, and we won't speculate on the uncle's reasons — but this turn of events considerably complicated our situation, since nothing can be proven without the documents. We had to act. Our lawyer immediately began tracking down the necessary records, submitting requests to various authorities to obtain copies of the missing documents. Eventually the full set of documents was assembled, and the application was submitted to the Federal Administrative Office.
The process of obtaining late-resettler status, however, is a fairly lengthy one — so it's not surprising that unpredictable events can occur along the way, fundamentally changing the situation. Unfortunately, during this time Anatoly's father fell seriously ill. This complicated our position considerably, since one of the key preconditions for late-resettler status is the candidate's affiliation with the German people (Bekenntnis zum deutschen Volkstum), which presupposes knowledge of German. Proving this proficiency requires either a certificate confirming a command of the language at least at the B1 level, or passing one of the standard language tests — either way, a genuinely foundational command of German must be demonstrated. Given the father's already serious state of health, sitting any kind of test was simply out of the question. Our lawyer therefore submitted a request to the Federal Administrative Office asking that our client be exempted from providing any proof of German proficiency, given his serious medical condition. The authority did grant the exemption from the test — but tragically, he passed away before his case could be concluded.
Our client was devastated and no longer saw any hope of winning his own case, but our lawyer managed to reassure Anatoly. No one, of course, could have anticipated such a turn of events, but the legal profession demands finding a way out of every situation, however unpredictable. Having weighed every possible path forward, our lawyer decided to stay the original course for the time being and continue the correspondence with the authority.
Our lawyer soon drafted a supporting brief setting out our client's legal position in light of the new circumstances. It pointed out that every precondition on our client's side had been fulfilled, and noted that had his father still been alive, we had every reason to believe his case would have been decided favorably and he would soon have received late-resettler status — his process had, after all, reached its final stage and was nearing completion, with all documents submitted and the test requirement already waived. Credit is due to the Federal Administrative Office here: it approached our client's situation with understanding and took the circumstances set out in the brief into account. Some time later, the young man was recognized as a late resettler and was able to move to Germany.
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