Come back soon, but not too soon — and still, as soon as you can!
In short: come back whenever you're ready.
Overturning BVA Refusals
A refusal by the Bundesverwaltungsamt (BVA) to recognize late resettler status can be challenged before the administrative court — typically within one month of receiving the refusal.
Marc Levy. Everyone Wants to Love
The "Late Resettlers to Germany" program allows ethnic Germans, as well as persons of German nationality who left their homeland during or after the Second World War, to obtain German citizenship. The term "resettlers" (German: Aussiedler) first appeared after Germany passed the "Law on the Affairs of Displaced Persons and Refugees" in 1953. The law set out the rules under which Germans who had been forcibly resettled, German refugees, and ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics were entitled to return permanently to Germany.
After 1 January 1993, the prefix "late" was added to the term "resettlers." In practice, little changed. Late resettlers (Spätaussiedler) can still apply to emigrate to Germany. Germany's Federal Expellees Act defines the group of people who qualify as late resettlers. Regardless of their country of residence, this group is entitled to resettle in Germany and to receive social support from the German state.
In earlier articles we described in detail the requirements that must be met to obtain "late resettler" status. Let's recap the main ones.
First, the principal requirement is proof of German ethnicity (under Section 4 of the Federal Expellees and Refugees Act — Bundesvertriebenengesetz, or Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen und Flüchtlinge, abbreviated BVFG).
Second, so-called affiliation with the German people (Bekenntnis zum deutschen Volkstum) is of great importance; under Section 6 BVFG, this is demonstrated through language — including command of a specific German dialect — upbringing, and culture. The applicant must be proficient enough in German to hold everyday conversations freely, write simple letters, and understand general, non-specialist information.
In addition, the applicant must have no criminal record for a serious criminal offense.
Finally, for the sake of completeness, the applicant must also not fall under Section 5 BVFG. Under Section 5 BVFG, an applicant cannot obtain "late resettler" status if, in the USSR, they or at least one close relative held a privileged position (for example, as an officer of the militia, the KGB, the judicial system — as a prosecutor or judge — a diplomat, and so on).
Family members of a person who has obtained Spätaussiedler status are also entitled to resettle in Germany if, for whatever reason, they cannot independently prove their own affiliation with the German people. This option is available to spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Germans. Under the law, this status can only arise if the principal repatriate files an application to include family members alongside their own. If the administrative authority approves such a joint departure by issuing the corresponding permit (Einbeziehungsbescheid), the family members will be recognized as late German resettlers to Germany. It's worth noting that this right to move is a joint one: family members cannot move to Germany separately from the principal applicant. It should also be kept in mind that such family members will have to prove a high level of German proficiency, confirmed by an appropriate certificate. Note that, in the case of a spouse moving together with the applicant, the marriage must have lasted at least three years. If these conditions are not met, family members can still enter Germany, but only under family reunification for Germans. That involves going through the general procedure and does not allow German citizenship to be obtained through the simplified route.
People who have decided to move to Germany under the "Late Resettlers" program quite often come to us for legal help. Our attorneys, who have many years of experience in immigration law, can always help find the best solution and achieve a positive outcome even in the most difficult of situations. We'll describe one such case in this article.
In January 2010, a Russian citizen — a pleasant middle-aged woman we'll call Marina — came to our firm. She had been considering moving to Germany for several years, especially since she had the preconditions to do so under the "Late Resettlers" program. Marina's father, who had returned to his historic homeland under the "Resettlers" program some twenty years earlier, was living in Germany at the time. After listening to our client's story, our attorney immediately set about analyzing all the documents Marina had provided. Although the documents confirming the woman's right to "return" were all in order, Marina still had to get through a number of serious challenges. At first, she was unable to demonstrate her affiliation with the German people, since no German dialect showed up during her German-language interview. Fortunately, this problem was resolved fairly quickly by taking a six-month course of intensive one-on-one lessons with a native German speaker.
Problems then arose over Marina's adult son, Anton (name changed), whom she wanted to add to her application as a family member. The issue was that Marina, who had never been married, had raised her son on her own her entire life. Her son's birth certificate listed Marina's own father as the father. Accordingly, Anton's patronymic had been formed from his grandfather's first name. What is entirely acceptable in Russia — children with such birth records are far from uncommon — thoroughly baffled the staff of Germany's Federal Office of Administration for resettlement matters (BVA). Despite the explanations our attorney sent, they demanded documentary proof of the fact that the child had no "de jure" father. This was needed, among other things, to check Anton against Section 5 BVFG — that is, to establish with certainty that the young man's father had never held a privileged position in the USSR. In this case, we advised Marina to approach the civil registry office that had issued Anton's birth certificate to obtain an official statement that the child's father had been recorded solely on the mother's word and might differ from the child's biological father. Officially, Anton has only one parent — his mother. In addition, on our recommendation, Marina gathered and had translated into German the documents confirming that she had raised her son alone her whole life and had received state social assistance as a single mother. Fortunately, after submitting this set of supporting documents together with a cover letter our attorney prepared, the question of confirming Anton's paternity was resolved.
Less than three months later, "something went wrong" again. The question of Anton's parentage had been settled, and all that remained was for Anton to pass the language exam. It then turned out that the young man had no intention of going anywhere — he had just started a new job and found a girlfriend. Anton was perfectly happy with his life in Russia. Giving in to his mother's desperate pleading, he even signed up for German courses and, after finishing them, attempted the B1 language exam twice. Unfortunately, a satisfactory result had yet to materialize.
Marina, always cheerful and upbeat, began to doubt whether this venture would succeed. One day she called us and said she had decided to go to Germany on her own. Naturally, she was frightened of leaving her still-young son behind in Russia by himself. But the years were passing, and there was no more room to put off the move any longer. On a human level, we fully understood the woman's position, while at the same time we very much wanted to preserve Anton's own chance of moving to Germany in the future. So we advised our client to withdraw the application in which she had requested that Anton be granted permission to leave as a family member, and to file a new, independent application for herself alone instead. The young man retained his own right to independent repatriation as the grandson of a German. As a well-known Moscow humorist, A. Ras, aptly put it: "Before you shed your responsibility, find someone to hand it to." With our help, Marina did everything within her power to preserve her only child's right to repatriation. Responsibility for the final decision — whether to go or not — was left to her son. Marina rightly decided not to pressure him any further and instead to let him make that key decision for himself.
Our client has since received the BVA's approval to move to Germany and is now actively preparing for her relocation. Our firm's attorneys remain ready to provide further legal support with her paperwork in Germany. We expect that Marina will soon acquire German citizenship while retaining her existing Russian citizenship as well. The decision on Anton's move was left "up to" the young man himself. Should the need arise, our attorneys are ready to give him a full consultation on every aspect of emigrating under the "Late Resettlers" program, as well as to help gather, prepare, and check all the required documents.
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