Germany has a very well-developed social system designed to protect citizens in the event of unemployment or incapacity to work, to provide financial support to children and young people, and to assist refugees who have arrived here, along with every other group in need of help. The core statute governing entitlement to benefits is the German Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch, SGB). It consists of 12 books, each a separate statute in its own right, each conferring entitlement to a particular type of social benefit.
Monthly child benefit ("Kindergeld") is paid in Germany for every child from birth until they turn eighteen. In certain cases — for instance, if the child is in education, registered as unemployed, and still living with their parents — the benefit continues to be paid up to the age of twenty-five.
It is worth noting that neither the parents' nationality nor that of their children is an obstacle to receiving child benefit in Germany, provided a number of statutory requirements are met. The degree of blood relationship plays no role either — the children may be either biological or adopted. The key requirement is that the child is being raised by, and permanently living in Germany with, the person applying for the benefit. If, for example, a child is permanently cared for and raised by grandparents who live permanently in Germany and with whom the child is registered, then the benefit is paid not to the parents but to the grandparents as the child's caregivers.
So how much is child benefit today? Since 2018: for the first and second child it amounts to 194 euros a month, for the third slightly more — 200 euros, and for the fourth and each subsequent child the amount is 225 euros.
To receive social benefits in Germany quickly and without unnecessary delay or headache — child benefit included — one must submit a correctly completed application, together with all supporting documents, to the relevant state authority responsible for such payments in good time. Child benefit, for example, is administered by the Family Benefits Office (Familienkasse), which is part of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit). All applications for the benefit are submitted to and processed by this office. Otherwise, no benefit is ever calculated or paid automatically. This can be a real problem for foreigners who do not yet fully understand the social system of a country still unfamiliar to them, and who may not know what they are entitled to depending on their age or social status. In such cases the best solution is to consult a qualified lawyer, who can explain in detail all the particulars of the social rights, benefits, and privileges due in each specific case, and who can complete all the necessary applications and attach the required supporting documents. This not only saves the time and effort needed to assemble a package of documents, but also secures a prompt payout of everything the state owes — payments that, in Germany, undoubtedly provide serious material support for a family. In this article, we describe how we were able to effectively help a young woman, Svetlana (name changed), a Russian citizen permanently resident in Germany with a small child.
Svetlana had come to Germany to study at a higher-education institution. During her studies, the young woman had a child. After completing her studies, Svetlana, raising the child alone, decided to stay in Germany — a country with a highly developed economy where, in her view, she could count on a successful career and social support for herself and her child. Her professional ambitions were fully vindicated, and she soon found suitable work. It is worth noting here that, in doing so, our client acquired a new legal residence status — a temporary residence permit issued for the purpose of employment (§ 18 of the German Residence Act, Aufenthaltsgesetz – AufenthG).
Important: calculating maintenance
It is worth noting here that, in doing so, our client acquired a new legal residence status — a temporary residence permit issued for the purpose of employment (§ 18 AufenthG).
It is important that Svetlana's entitlement to child benefit arose precisely from the moment she received her new residence permit, since that entitlement, under § 62 of the German Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz — EStG), belongs to EU citizens as well as to foreign nationals who hold either a permanent settlement permit in Germany (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or a temporary residence permit granting the right to work.
Accordingly, some time after actually starting work, Svetlana applied to the Familienkasse for the child benefit lawfully due to her. To the young woman's great surprise and disappointment, she was refused — which is what prompted her to turn to our law firm for qualified legal assistance.
As it later transpired, our client had started working before she yet held in hand the new document confirming her residence permit with the right to work. The long queues at the Immigration Office in Berlin (Ausländerbehörde) played an unfortunate role here. Svetlana, a young professional juggling work with raising a small child, was in no position to stand in a queue for hours in person, and unfortunately had to wait around three months for her online-booked appointment with a caseworker.
As a result of these bureaucratic delays, Svetlana applied to the Familienkasse for child benefit holding only her old residence permit, issued under § 16 AufenthG for the purpose of study. It was precisely this document, among others, that our client attached to her application. The refusal issued to Svetlana by the Familienkasse on formal grounds was thus an entirely predictable consequence of our client's own independent actions, taken without specialized knowledge of immigration law or sufficient experience dealing with government authorities in an unfamiliar country.
Fortunately, she turned to our law firm in time, before the statutory deadlines had run out. We immediately took up her case in order to appeal the decision and vindicate the rights of a young mother who was genuinely in urgent need of state support. Our lawyer prepared a detailed, well-substantiated petition to the Familienkasse, attaching all the supporting documents — most importantly, Svetlana's new residence permit, which entitled her to have the child benefit calculated and paid. The favorable outcome, as expected, was not long in coming, and we were soon able to give our client the good news that she would receive the money owed to her from the date she obtained her new German residence permit.
Moreover, in this case it would have been possible to go even further and attempt to recover, through the courts, child benefit for the two- to three-month period between the date Svetlana actually started working and the date she officially received her new residence permit. That would have required us to gather the necessary evidence and appear before the Finance Court, arguing that the delay in issuing our client's new residence permit was due precisely to the fault of the Immigration Office's own staff. We of course explained to our client in detail that she had the right to bring such a claim, along with the prospects of success and the risks of a possible loss. In this case, an unfavorable outcome would have meant our client bearing the full court costs and legal fees, which, given her situation, could have placed a heavy burden on a small family's budget. Svetlana decided not to go to court and to be satisfied with what had already been achieved: her child was now covered by state support up to the age of 18, and under certain circumstances even longer, and the two or three lost months carried no decisive weight in that light. The young woman was therefore fully satisfied with the work of our competent and highly qualified lawyer, which helped achieve the positive outcome we had expected on her behalf.
This case, like many other interesting cases from our practice, illustrates very well how important competent and prompt work is when dealing with German authorities, which are known for their heightened strictness regarding established rules and procedures. Only carefully and correctly prepared documents, submitted in good time, provide a sufficient basis for social payments to be made. The actual circumstances of one's life, as well as rights acquired "de jure," do not by themselves mean that the money lawfully owed will start arriving in one's bank account.
The qualified specialists at our law firm possess not only excellent knowledge of German law but also, thanks to their long and extensive experience, understand how complex and unusual questions are resolved in practice. The intervention of a lawyer, and their ability to explain clearly things that may seem obvious to the client but are not understood by the official, is the key to obtaining the favorable decision needed to secure social benefits — benefits that are especially vital for families with children.
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