"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure
without losing enthusiasm."
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.
Winston Churchill
Moving to Germany permanently has lost none of its appeal for Russians and other people from the former USSR. It's no secret that Germany is a country with stable economic growth, high living and social standards, and quality education and healthcare.
One of the programs offering the possibility of moving permanently is the "Late Resettlers" program. Under this program, persons of German ethnicity who remained living in the territory of the former Soviet Union from May 1945 onward, or after being expelled from 31 March 1952 onward, as well as their family members, are entitled to apply for late resettler status, which allows them to move to Germany permanently fairly quickly. The term "resettlers" (German: Aussiedler) first appeared after Germany passed the "Act on the Affairs of Displaced Persons and Refugees" (Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen und Flüchtlinge, abbreviated Bundesvertriebenengesetz, BVFG) in 1953. This German federal law governs the admission and integration in Germany of forcibly displaced persons and refugees of German ethnicity who left their places of settlement during and after the Second World War, as well as the admission of ethnic German resettlers from Eastern Europe and the countries of the former USSR. This group of people, as well as their family members, is entitled to resettle in Germany and to receive social support from the European state.
To obtain late resettler status in Germany, the following prerequisites currently need to be met:
documented German roots;
German proficiency at level B1 or higher;
no outstanding criminal record;
no grounds for refusal under Section 5 of the Act on the Affairs of Displaced Persons and Refugees (holding certain positions or receiving preferential treatment during the Soviet era).
On 14 September 2013, the first amendments in 20 years to the law governing resettler status entered into force. Whereas previously the relatives of a German repatriate could only move to Germany permanently from Russia together with him — meaning their inclusion in his application had to be arranged before departure — this rule has now been abolished. Family members' exit permits can now be arranged after the repatriate has already moved to Germany permanently, so to speak "retroactively." In other words, joint resettlement is no longer mandatory.
In addition, additional privileged categories of persons were introduced who, as family members of a German national, need not prove German proficiency by a special certificate. Persons with disabilities, the chronically ill, and minor children were exempted from this requirement.
Incidentally, the resettlement conditions were also eased for Germans themselves: they can now have a somewhat lower level of German — B1, acquired not within the family but through independent study.
Moreover, it became possible to challenge a refusal of admission. In particular, if persons who submitted an application with the appropriate set of documents were refused resettlement, they are entitled to challenge that decision, reapply and demand that the case be reviewed.
In 2014, in connection with the armed conflict in the Donbass, another change was introduced making it easier for ethnic Germans to move to Germany from Ukraine: applications submitted by them are, among other things, given priority review. In our firm's practice, we regularly encounter a wide variety of complex cases involving applicants wishing to move to Germany under the "Late Resettlers" program. This article describes one particularly memorable case.
A middle-aged woman — let's call her Marina — came to our law firm. Marina had dreamed of moving to Germany for years, but unfortunately all her attempts to achieve a positive result on her own had failed. Back in 2009, Marina submitted a set of documents to the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and was refused for lacking several required prerequisites at once — in particular, she was unable to prove her German roots or her belonging to the German people (Bekenntnis), i.e. "German self-identification." In early 2015, following the easing of the law described above, Marina decided to try again — this time with the help of a professional — to obtain the coveted positive admission decision. Our firm's attorney, who has successfully resolved dozens of "Late Resettler" cases, pursued a resolution in Marina's favor for four years. Let's take it from the beginning.
After receiving instructions from the client and executing a power of attorney, the attorney assembled the necessary set of documents — including archival documents we requested confirming the client's German origin — and submitted them to the BVA for review. The problem in this case was the lack of evidence of our client's belonging to the German people, the so-called Bekenntnis. Although Marina had a fairly good command of German and had passed the exam, obtaining a B1 certificate from the Goethe-Institut, she did not have a single document stating her German nationality. Knowledge of German alone, without other evidence of allegiance to the German people, was not sufficient for the administrative authority. Correspondence between the attorney and the authority's staff went on endlessly, but no positive result was forthcoming. Time passed, and documents stating Marina's nationality could not be obtained in Russia. Our client had already resigned herself to the situation and decided the case was hopeless and resettlement under this program impossible. Our firm's attorney decided not to give up and suggested that the client go all the way and try every legitimate option to achieve the originally intended goal. The decision was made to approach the problem from the opposite direction: if it was impossible to obtain a document confirming Marina's German nationality, it was necessary to gather and submit to the BVA proof that such a document genuinely could not be obtained. The attorney sent requests to various administrative bodies of the Russian Federation, of which Marina was a citizen, asking them to provide a document confirming Marina's nationality. Having received refusals from every authority to comply with such a request, the attorney drew up and filed a court action challenging the administrative bodies' refusals. As might be expected, a negative decision was obtained in this matter too. As the saying goes, "a negative result is still a result." All the refusals obtained in Russia were duly apostilled and translated into German. A further petition was then submitted to the Federal Office of Administration, attaching all the refusals gathered from the Russian administrative bodies as well as the negative court decision. The petition requested that Marina's belonging to the German people be determined and recognized based on her having successfully passed all four modules of the language test. Frankly, this was practically the last remaining chance of obtaining a positive BVA decision, and we resolved to use it no matter what, in order to secure for our client the fastest possible route to permanent resettlement in the country. It is hardly necessary to say what a pleasant surprise it was for Marina to learn that the BVA had ruled in her favor. For a long time she could hardly believe that, after several years of waiting, she could pack her bags with a calm heart and set off to "meet new horizons."
In closing, we can't resist a small joke about the sluggishness of the German bureaucratic machine, whose peculiarities almost everyone moving to the country is bound to encounter. A German and an American argued about who could build a house faster. After four weeks the American reports: "Fourteen more days and the house will be ready." The German replies: "Fourteen more forms, and then I'll get started!" Let's embrace the German mentality, with all its features — some of which make sense to us, and some of which don't quite. In all matters requiring strict compliance with the letter of the law and established rules, we advise our readers to consult professionals.
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