Guide
German citizenship by declaration: StAG 5 and the restitution routes
Updated
Germany's descent routes are narrow in the ordinary case, and open in restitution cases. If a repair category fits, applying is free and the deadline is real.
Question 1
Which country is your ancestor from?
Pick the strongest line if you have several: a closer generation almost always beats a more distant one.
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The three repair routes
- Article 116(2) Basic Law
- Restores citizenship to people formally deprived of it between 1933 and 1945 on political, racial, or religious grounds, and their descendants. No generational limit in practice, and free of charge under section 38(3) StAG.
- Section 15 StAG (2021)
- Covers Nazi-era persecutees who lost or never acquired German citizenship without a formal revocation, for example those who fled and naturalized abroad, or were excluded from naturalization, and their descendants. Free of charge under section 38(3) StAG.
- Section 5 StAG (2021)
- A declaration route for people excluded by old gender-discriminatory rules, chiefly children born before January 1, 1975 to a German mother and foreign father, children born out of wedlock to a German father before July 1993, and descendants of both. Free of charge under section 38(3) StAG, by declaration to the BVA, and section 5(3) StAG allows the declaration only within ten years of the 2021 law's entry into force, that is until August 2031.
How a section 5 StAG declaration works
- It is a declaration, not a discretionary application: if you fall within a category, citizenship follows from the declaration itself.
- Filed with the Federal Office of Administration (BVA), from abroad via the German mission, on the official forms (bva.bund.de).
- Evidence: civil records establishing the German parent's citizenship at your birth and the chain to you; German record offices and consulates can help source them.
- No renunciation required: acquiring German citizenship this way does not require giving up your current citizenship, and Germany's 2024 nationality reform allows multiple citizenship generally.
- Deadline: section 5(3) StAG allows the declaration only within ten years of the law's entry into force, so the window closes in August 2031 (StAG). File early.
Ordinary descent, for contrast
All three repair routes carry no government fee under section 38(3) of the German Nationality Act. A claim costs records and, by choice, professional help, not the state.