Clock Is Ticking: Deadline Approaches for Germans Abroad to Reclaim Citizenship Lost to Gender Discrimination

Germany lets people once denied citizenship by gender-biased laws reclaim it by declaration until Aug 19, 2031, with no language test, residency, or fees.

COLOGNE, NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY, March 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A ten-year declaration window under § 5 of the Nationality Act closes on August 19, 2031, with no language test or residency requirement for eligible applicants.

For decades, children born to German mothers and foreign fathers before 1975 were denied citizenship at birth. German law at the time transmitted nationality only through fathers in a marriage. Children born out of wedlock to German fathers before 1993 were also excluded. In 2021, the Fourth Act Amending the Nationality Act created a ten-year declaration window under Section 5 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, or StAG). The window closes on August 19, 2031.

The process is separate from ordinary naturalization. There is no language exam, no proof of income, no residency requirement. The declaration itself carries no government fee, according to the Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt, or BVA). A fee of €51 applies only for issuance of the citizenship certificate.

Four categories of applicants qualify under § 5 StAG. All must have been born after May 23, 1949. The first group covers children of a German parent who did not acquire citizenship at birth because of the discriminatory rules then in force. The second covers children whose German mother lost citizenship through marriage to a foreigner before April 1, 1953. The third applies to individuals who lost citizenship through legitimization. The fourth extends eligibility to descendants of persons in any of the first three groups.

Separate pathways exist under § 4 StAG for standard descent and under Article 116, paragraph 2 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) for descendants of those persecuted by the Nazi regime. The Article 116 route has no deadline and no fee.

“The legal entitlement is clear, but time is working against applicants,” said Rechtsanwalt Helmer Tieben of the Cologne law firm Rechtsanwalt Tieben. “Obtaining birth, marriage, and naturalization records from German and foreign archives routinely takes twelve to eighteen months. Anyone who has not started assembling documentation by 2028 is running a real risk of missing the statutory cut-off.”

The Act to Modernise Nationality Law (StARModG), in effect since June 27, 2024, eliminated Germany’s restrictions on holding multiple citizenships. Applicants under § 5 StAG can now retain their existing nationality. The retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung), previously required to avoid automatic loss of German citizenship when acquiring a foreign one, is no longer necessary.

The August 19, 2031 date is a statutory cut-off (Ausschlussfrist), not a filing target. The declaration must be received by the competent authority on or before that date. Mailing the declaration before the deadline is not enough; it must have arrived. The cut-off cannot be extended. Late filings are invalid unless the applicant can show the delay was entirely beyond their control under Section 32 of the Administrative Procedures Act (VwVfG).

Eligibility is not automatic. Applicants with significant criminal convictions or security- and extremism-related grounds may be barred. Individuals who previously held and then lost German citizenship through a separate legal event may also be excluded, with consequences that can extend to their descendants.

Tieben has published a comprehensive guide to German citizenship by descent covering all four § 5 case groups, Article 116 restoration, and the practical effects of the 2024 reform.


About Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Helmer Tieben

Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Helmer Tieben is a Cologne-based law firm focused on immigration, nationality, and tenancy law. The firm advises individuals and families across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe on German citizenship by descent, § 5 StAG declarations, and Article 116 restoration claims.

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