German citizenship by descent

If you are applying from outside of Germany, the application process at the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) does not include any fees. However, keep in mind that there may be fees for obtaining certificates, translations, and authentications.

To apply for naturalization by descent under art. 116 Basic Law and § 15 Law on Citizenship, your ancestors must have lost their citizenship based on racist, political or religious grounds.

Decisions under the Act on the Revocation of Naturalization and the Withdrawal of German Citizenship of 14 July 1933 are always assumed to be based on political, racial or religious grounds. Mainly, Jews who fled abroad were expatriated under this act. The same applies to the revocation of citizenship in accordance with the Eleventh Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Act of November 25, 1941.

Other cases of expatriation may also have had racial, political, or religious reasons, but this must be proven in each individual case. The definition of political reasons is quite broad, and various cases may be considered. Examples of this could be expatriation due to homosexuality or desertion.

To apply for citizenship by descent, you must be a direct descendant of the person who lost or was denied German citizenship. I could be one of your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. There is no “generational limit”. This includes illegitimate children of a father who lost or was denied his German citizenship during the nazi era.

You do not need to have lived in Germany in order to apply for citizenship by descent. You can also submit your claim from abroad. The only requirement is that your ancestors either held German citizenship at some point or were denied citizenship even though they had the legal right to acquire it.

While in many cases the ancestors affected by racist or political persecution during the Nazi era did live in Germany, this is not a requirement. This is especially relevant for ancestors who lived in occupied territories.

If one of your ancestors lost their citizenship between January 30, 1933, and May 8, 1945, you can apply for citizenship by descent in accordance with Article 116(2) of the Basic Law, provided that you meet the other requirements.

If you want to claim naturalization by descent under § 15 Law on Citizenship, your ancestor must have renounced or lost their citizenship before 26 February 1955. Further information on the requirements under § 15 Law on Citizenship you can find here.

Yes, you can apply for German citizenship by descent from abroad. If you do not live in Germany, you should apply to your local German diplomatic mission (embassy, consulate) first. Your local German diplomatic mission will forward your application to the competent authority in Germany which is the Federal office of administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt) in Cologne.

Reparatory naturalization allows individuals and their descendants who were affected by political persecution during the Third Reich — and who lost or were denied their German citizenship — to regain German nationality.

Several legal provisions in Germany provide for reparatory naturalization, including the German Constitution, known as the Basic Law.

Through these measures, the German parliament sought to address and repair the injustices of political persecution during the Nazi era, as well as the gender-based discrimination that persisted in its aftermath.

Today, many descendants of those who were politically persecuted are eligible to reclaim German citizenship through reparatory naturalization by descent.

There are no deadlines for your application with one exception. If you seek naturalization by declaration under § 5 Law on Citizenship, you must make such declaration by 19 August 2031 at the latest. You have a right to declare under § 5 Law on Citizenship if you were excluded from acquiring German citizenship at birth in a gender-discriminatory manner and have not acquired it otherwise since then.

If your ancestor lost their citizenship during the Third Reich and you apply for naturalization by descent under art. 116 Basic Law, you do not have to prove your impunity.

However, you must meet certain requirements in order to apply for naturalization under the Nationality Act. The general rules are set out in Section 12a of the Nationality Act. In the case of naturalization on the basis of descent, however, the requirements for a clean criminal record are less stringent. Persons who have been convicted of intentional crimes and sentenced to imprisonment or juvenile detention of two years or more, or who have been subject to a preventive detention order at the time of their last final conviction, cannot acquire German citizenship under Sections 5 and 15 of the Nationality Act.

If you apply for German citizenship by descent, you do not have to have ever held German citizenship. However, with regard to your ancestors, it depends on the legal grounds on which your claim is made. You can either claim that your ancestors have lost their citizenship during the nazi era or that your ancestors were denied citizenship during the nazi era based on political or racist persecution or after the nazi era based on gender discrimination. If the claim is based on the loss of citizenship, you must prove that your ancestors have been in possession of German citizenship at one point. Naturally, if you claim that your ancestors have been denied citizenship, they must never have held German citizenship.

Further information on the different legal grounds and their requirements you can find here.

No. You can also apply for citizenship on the basis of your ancestry if one of your ancestors was denied citizenship after the Nazi era due to gender discrimination . Children of a German parent who were born after the Basic Law came into force on May 23, 1949, have the right to declare that they wish to obtain German citizenship if they were denied it at birth due to gender discrimination and have not acquired it in any other way since then.

Further details on denied citizenship based on gender discrimination you can find here.

Whether you lose your previous citizenship depends on the current regulations in your home country. Since 27 June 2024 Germany allows their citizens to hold multiple citizenships. That means that under German law you do not have to give up your previous citizenship in order to become a German citizen. Nevertheless, it is possible that your home country requires you to renounce your citizenship if you acquire a new one. If you want to find out whether your country allows multiple citizenships, you can check out this interactive list.

No, to apply for citizenship by descent, you do not need to provide proof of German language skills.

During the Third Reich, the Nazi regime carried out collective naturalizations, i.e., collective naturalizations by law of so-called "German nationals" in the annexed and occupied territories in Central and Eastern Europe. To this end, various bilateral treaties with Eastern European countries and national regulations were adopted. German-speaking Jews as well as Sinti and Roma were excluded from these naturalizations by the Nazi regime on racist grounds. If one of your ancestors was excluded for these reasons, you can apply for German citizenship on the basis of your ancestry in accordance with § 15 No. 2 StAG .

If you are claiming German citizenship by descent because your ancestors lost or were denied their citizenship during the Nazi era, it does not matter which of your ancestors was affected or what their gender was. It could have been your mother, grandmother, father, or grandfather — the requirements are the same.

However, if you are claiming citizenship by descent due to gender discrimination that occurred after the Nazi era, then it does make a difference whether your lineage is maternal or paternal. According to § 5 Law on Citizenship, you are generally entitled to naturalization by declaration if your mother or grandmother was a German citizen and their children did not automatically acquire German citizenship due to the discriminatory laws in force at the time.

There is, however, one case under § 5 in which the parental lineage must be paternal: you may declare your wish to become a German citizen if your father or grandfather was German but not married to your mother or grandmother. In such cases, their children also did not acquire German citizenship by birth.

Further information on the requirements under § 5 Law on Citizenship can be found here.

In Germany, the principle of jus sanguinis ( right of blood) applies. . This means that German citizenship is generally acquired through descent from a German parent, regardless of the place of birth.

Under § 4 Law on Citizenship, a child automatically acquires German citizenship at birth if at least one parent is a German citizen at that time.

If you acquire German citizenship by descent, any children born after your naturalization are automatically German citizens, no matter where they are born.

However, if you already have children before your citizenship application is approved, and you were not yet a German citizen at the time of their birth, ius sanguinis does not apply automatically. In that case, you must submit separate applications for citizenship by descent on behalf of your children. This process is usually straightforward, as you can reuse the same proof of lineage you provided for your own application and simply add documentation proving your own parenthood.