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 1993, the prefix "late" was added to the term "resettlers." In practice, little changed. Late resettlers (Spätaussiedler) can still apply to emigrate to Germany. 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. 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.
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.
So what are the main conditions for obtaining "late resettler" status?
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). This requires one of the applicant's documents (for example, their birth certificate) to state German nationality. Descendants of ethnic Germans must provide a document showing that one of their parents or grandparents was of German nationality.
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, upbringing, and culture. The applicant must prove basic knowledge of German and provide confirmation of proficiency at the required level — at least Goethe-Zertifikat B1 (on the six-level Common European Framework of Reference for Languages scale). This level implies fairly confident German proficiency, the ability to hold everyday conversations, write simple letters, and understand general, non-specialist information.
In addition, the applicant must also have no criminal record for a serious criminal offense — a requirement that is quite self-explanatory and hardly needs elaboration.
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 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), or if a close relative with whom they shared a household for at least three years held such a position.
One might think that, for someone who has decided to emigrate to Germany, everyday German proficiency shouldn't raise any questions at all. Most applicants who consider themselves ethnically German already have some command of the language of Goethe and Schiller. It might seem that obtaining a certificate confirming that proficiency is fairly straightforward. Yet even here there are nuances not everyone knows about, which affect how successfully a case is handled by Germany's Federal Office of Administration for resettlement matters (BVA). In this article, we'll describe how we helped our client Katerina (name changed) successfully move to Germany under the "Late Resettlers" program.
Katerina was born and raised in a family where "German spirit" had been passed down from generation to generation. Her grandfather, a German, had been taken prisoner in the USSR as a teenager during the Second World War. When the war ended, he worked on rebuilding a number of facilities in the town of Arzamas-16 in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where he fell in love with a Russian woman. Naturally, such "romances" were harshly suppressed at the time, but, as they say, the heart wants what it wants. The young couple decided to start a family and, after his release from captivity, stayed on to live in Gorky (renamed Nizhny Novgorod in 1990). Life gradually settled into its rhythm, children were born, and later grandchildren too. The grandparents never hid the true story of their love from their descendants. Their children and grandchildren knew the details of how they'd met, loved hearing stories about the past for hours on end, and took an interest in German history and culture.
So Katerina, having grown up in such a mixed family, learned a great deal about German traditions, customs, and cultural values from childhood on. Being a girl drawn to the humanities and foreign languages, she attended a special school with an emphasis on foreign-language teaching. In her senior years of school, she was fortunate enough to travel widely in Europe, including through exchange programs. Having spent some time in Germany living with a typical German family, she became set on enrolling at a German university. Her parents had no objections, especially since well-off relatives on her grandfather's side lived in Germany and were happy to offer to have her stay with them for the first few years. No one was happier about this prospect than her German grandfather — he knew that every door was now open to his granddaughter. As the granddaughter of a German, Katerina could obtain German citizenship while retaining her Russian citizenship, under the "Late Resettlers" program. The advantages were clear, and her parents began actively preparing their daughter for the move.
Before submitting her documents to Germany's resettlement authority for review, they sent Katerina to Germany for six months to complete a preparatory German course at a licensed language school. This was necessary to obtain the Deutsches Sprachdiplom — a diploma certifying foreign-language proficiency at levels B2 through C1 under the International European framework for assessing language skills (GER — Der Gemeinsame europäische Referenzrahmen für Sprachen). Its results are recognized by every educational institution in Germany, and passing it is required for admission to a German university. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Katerina, having attended a special school where German had been taught intensively from the first grade, already had a solid grounding, and within a few months she delighted her parents by successfully passing the exam and obtaining her diploma.
It's not for nothing that people say hell is English cooking, French technology, German bureaucracy, an American lover, and Italian police, while heaven is French cooking, German technology, English bureaucracy, American police, and an Italian lover. The next step was submitting Katerina's set of documents to Germany's administrative authority for resettlement matters. Fortunately, her grandfather's documents proving his origin and nationality had survived, and proving the family relationship documentarily was not particularly difficult either. No one doubted that they would soon receive a positive answer, and Katerina was already deep into preparing document packages to send to the universities she had chosen.
The problem arose exactly where no one expected it. After the BVA's first review of the documents, it turned out that the Deutsches Sprachdiplom submitted in the document package did not meet the officials' requirements. According to established practice, they specifically wanted to see a Goethe-Zertifikat B1 in the document package — one that had to be obtained from the Goethe-Institut, which held something of an unofficial monopoly on administering the exams for such certificates. It was obvious that, given her level of German, Katerina would have had no trouble at all passing such an exam and obtaining the required certificate. However, it turned out that under the Goethe-Institut's rules, candidates had to successfully complete every level of instruction starting from A1 before sitting the exam. That would have meant significant expense and a loss of precious time — and, more to the point, no one could understand the logic behind officials demanding a B1 certificate from a young woman whose German was already good enough to gain admission to a German university.
Katerina's parents rightly refused to simply accept this absurd situation "as is" and decided to fight for their daughter's interests instead. On the recommendation of relatives in Germany, they turned to our law firm. Since immigration law is one of our firm's main areas of practice, our attorneys have repeatedly succeeded in defending clients' interests, including in proceedings to emigrate to Germany under the "Late Resettlers" program. We prepared a detailed petition to the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) requesting that Katerina's existing diploma be accepted as proof of a sufficient level of German proficiency. We based this request on the fact that our client's language skills, as confirmed by her existing diploma, significantly exceeded those required for emigration under the program and confirmed by a Goethe-Institut B1 certificate. In the petition, we also set out the procedure for admission to the corresponding exam at a branch of the Goethe-Institut, the cost of instruction and the exam, and the relevant timelines. In closing, we also explained that, should BVA officials issue a negative decision, we would be prepared to defend our client's interests in court.
As we had rightly anticipated, common sense prevailed. Within less than two months, we received a response from the administrative authority accepting the Deutsches Sprachdiplom as proof of German proficiency and issuing a positive decision on the young woman's case.
The central theme underlying this article was captured briefly but memorably by the poet Lebedev-Kumach back in 1931: "You can't be born, educated, employed, married, sick, or buried without a piece of paper! In life, the paper is what matters most — treasure it your whole life. Without a paper, you're a bug; with a paper, you're a person!" We are genuinely delighted that we were able to help Katerina, as we have helped so many other clients, move to Germany, where, as her whole family is convinced, she will be able to receive a first-rate education and go on to build a successful career. We wish this young woman every success in all her endeavors!
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