Our law firm has specialized for many years in matters relating to German citizenship as well as obtaining a German residence permit on various grounds: studies, family reunification, employment, and more. Today, however, the clients who most often turn to us are those wishing to obtain late resettler status in Germany. This procedure is fairly burdensome, and the Federal Office of Administration reviews the documents submitted by applicants quite strictly, which is why our law firm carries out a thorough review of all documents and information our clients have. First, we request the documents that could confirm eligibility for the status described above and carry out a thorough analysis of them; the client is then given an explanation of the procedural specifics and offered a plan for the next steps, since each individual case is reviewed by the Federal Office of Administration strictly on its own merits.
In today's article we would like to take a closer look at the case of our client Anastasia (name changed), a Ukrainian citizen who came to our law firm to move to Germany as a descendant of a German national. During a conversation with our attorney, Anastasia explained that her great-grandfather Viktor (name changed) had been forcibly relocated during the Second World War to a labor camp in a country of Eastern Europe then occupied by Germany, where he subsequently obtained German citizenship. Our client had documents confirming these facts. Our attorney advised that, under applicable law, Anastasia genuinely did have a chance of obtaining German citizenship as a descendant of a German national — but in order to assess whether the evidence was sufficient, the attorney asked Anastasia to send us copies of those documents, as well as documents proving the family relationship. Accordingly, we requested every birth and marriage certificate not only of Anastasia's parents, but also of her grandmother and grandfather, who were descended from Viktor, the man who had become a German citizen.
B1/B2 Language Certificate Requirements
To obtain late resettler status, an applicant must prove German proficiency at a native-speaker level (Section 6 BVFG) — exemption from the test is possible only on medical grounds.
Having received the relevant set of documents from Anastasia, our attorney began reviewing them carefully. The surviving documents of our client's great-grandfather were entirely in order, but some issues arose with Anastasia's own documents. The reason was that, in order to be eligible for German citizenship as a descendant of a German national, every descendant in that line must have been born within a lawful marriage. Both her grandfather and her father met this requirement — they had been born after their parents' marriage. Anastasia's situation, however, looked somewhat different. Her parents' marriage had been registered a couple of days after her birth, and, even though her birth certificate had been issued after the marriage was registered and named her father, our client could not be recognized as having been born within marriage.
Because this fact played a very important role in the procedure for obtaining citizenship as a German descendant, the only way forward in this situation was to initiate a paternity recognition procedure and then obtain a new birth certificate with corrected data. That path was cumbersome and time-consuming, so our attorney, having carefully reviewed the information Anastasia had provided, proposed an alternative to our client.
At the time our client approached our law firm, Anastasia's grandfather had already been living in Germany for more than ten years, having previously obtained late resettler status. Under German law, a grandfather as the principal applicant is entitled to request that members of his family — in this case, his granddaughter — be included in his admission decision. There was no need to establish paternity or obtain a new birth certificate, which immediately simplified matters.
For this reason, our attorney suggested that Anastasia choose the second option as the faster and more reliable route to moving to Germany. So that our client could weigh the pros and cons of each scenario, our attorney explained in detail the particulars of moving to Germany as a family member of a late resettler.
Under Section 7 of the German Federal Expellees and Refugees Act (Bundesvertriebenengesetz, BVFG), Anastasia would be entitled to obtain German citizenship as soon as she arrived in Germany. This option does, however, have certain drawbacks: for example, any employment record accrued by a person who moved to Germany as a family member of a late resettler while still in the area of forced resettlement will not be recognized in Germany. Moreover, the spouses of such persons could, after moving to Germany, obtain only a temporary residence permit as foreign nationals (Section 8 of the same Act) and could only apply for German citizenship after three years of marriage with the applicant.
Our client, however, was not married and had only recently finished her university studies, so she had no employment record to speak of. Moving to Germany as a family member of a late resettler therefore had no negative consequences for Anastasia.
Anastasia, who for various reasons had not previously even considered moving to Germany on this basis, listened carefully to the attorney's explanation and was delighted at this newly opened path to achieving her goal without additional hassle. After talking it over with her grandfather, our client informed the attorney that her grandfather was willing to include his granddaughter in his admission decision.
On our client's instructions, the attorney initiated the procedure for obtaining an inclusion permit (Einbeziehungsbescheid), completing the relevant forms and submitting the full set of documents to the Federal Office of Administration for review.
The competent authority reviewed the documents our attorney had submitted very quickly and, without requesting a single additional document, issued Anastasia the corresponding permit to enter Germany.
So that our client could integrate more quickly after moving and exercise the rights German law grants her, our attorney further explained to Anastasia that, under her status, she was entitled to take part in free language and orientation courses lasting up to six months. If the courses were located far from her place of residence, a travel allowance could be granted to attend them. In addition, if our client's means of subsistence proved insufficient, she is entitled to state social assistance, which includes not only funds for food and clothing but also compensation for housing costs and health insurance.
This example clearly illustrates that, in any given case, seemingly unimportant facts and details can turn out to play a decisive role. For this reason, our law firm strongly recommends seeking timely, qualified legal assistance from an experienced attorney who can not only correctly assess your legal position but also find the fastest and most effective route to achieving your goal.
All rights reserved. Copying or republishing this article requires a link to the original source.
