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Law on Nationality / Citizenship

Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis

Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis, © Ute Grabowsky / photothek.net

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Introduction

The German Law on Nationality and Citizenship is complex and has undergone many changes in the past. However, some aspects have remained the same. You can find detailed information in the FAQ-Section on the website of the Federal Foreign Office.

German Citizenship - FAQ - Federal Foreign Office

Aquisition of German Citizenship by declaration pursuant to Section 5 of the Nationality Act

On 20 August 2021 the Fourth Act Amending the Nationality Act entered into force, creating a legal claim to naturalisation within the framework of reparations for persons who were affected by National Socialist persecution and therefore lost or did not obtain German citizenship but who have no entitlement to the restoration of German citizenship pursuant to Article 116 (2) sentence 1 of the Basic Law, and for their descendants. The Act also includes a ten-year right of declaration, under which children born to a German parent after the entry into force of the Basic Law who, due to the regulations in force at the time of their birth, were excluded in a gender-discriminating manner from acquiring German citizenship by descent at birth have the option of obtaining German citizenship by making a simple declaration.

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Naturalisation of victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants

Victims of persecution by the Nazi Regime who were forcibly deprived of their German nationality and their descendants can now be renaturalised in Germany.

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