Their grandparents came to Germany from Kazakhstan in the 1990s. They themselves came along at that time, attended school here and have a German passport. Or you still live in Russia, Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan and wonder if your family's German ancestry still means something today. In both cases, sooner or later you end up with a provision that was crucial for many families: Article 116, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law.<\/p>\n
This article explains what the provision says, who it covers, and how to become a German citizen from a \u201eGerman without German citizenship\u201c. It also shows where the legal situation is clear \u2013 and where authorities and courts currently interpret it differently.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong> This article serves as general information and does not replace legal advice in individual cases. Whether you can be a German citizen or not depends on your documents, family history, and the exact timing of individual events. For your specific situation, please contact a lawyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The instruction is a single, long sentence:<\/p>\n \u201eIn accordance with this Basic Law, a person who holds German citizenship or who, as a refugee or displaced person, has German citizenship or who is a spouse or descendant of a German citizen in the territory of the German Reich as of December 31, 1937, is considered a German within the meaning of this Basic Law.\u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If we break this sentence down, we get two groups of Germans:<\/p>\n A status of German citizen is a German citizen within the meaning of the Basic Law who (yet) does not hold the German citizenship. This legal status is not obtained through an application for naturalization, but through admission to Germany as a refugee, displaced person, or late emigrant of German ethnicity \u2013 or as an included spouse or descendant of such persons. Status German citizens are treated in many areas as nationals. Today, this status is usually only a short transitional phase: between admission to Germany and the acquisition of citizenship.<\/p>\n The Basic Law came into force in 1949. At that time, millions of people lived in West Germany who had fled or been expelled from the former German East Territories in the years before. Their legal status regarding citizenship was highly diverse: some were German citizens, others had been naturalized during the war through assimilation \u2013 with sometimes unclear effectiveness \u2013, and others had never possessed German citizenship. However, many had lost their homeland precisely because they were Germans.<\/p>\n The constitutional author did not want to treat these people as foreigners as long as their citizenship was not clear. Therefore, he equated them with the citizens. Status German citizens can, for example, invoke the fundamental rights that the Basic Law explicitly guarantees to Germans, such as freedom of movement (Art. 11 GG) or freedom of profession (Art. 12 GG).<\/p>\n Citizenship is different from nationality. Nationality is a legal bond to a state \u2013 it is indicated on a passport. Citizenship, on the other hand, describes whether a person is of German descent and identifies with the German people. A person can therefore be a Russian or Kazakh national and at the same time a German citizen. What is required in detail today is governed by \u00a7 6 of the Federal Displaced Persons Act (BVFG).<\/p>\n This date regularly causes misunderstandings. It refers to not<\/em> it describes the area where the recording must have taken place \u2013 the German Reich within its borders before the territorial changes of 1938.<\/p>\n For today\u2019s procedures, this means: The decisive factor is admission to the Federal Republic of Germany. Those who live as descendants of Volga Germans in Siberia do not fall outside the provision because Siberia was never part of the German Reich. What matters is whether they are admitted to the legal process in Germany.<\/p>\n Article 116, paragraph 1 of the Basic Law is deliberately phrased in an open manner. Who exactly qualifies as a migrant or late-arriver and how the admission process works is left to the legislature by the Basic Law. The most important laws are:<\/p>\n For late-immigrants and their families, the process typically proceeds as follows today:<\/p>\n Today, there are only a few people with the original status of Deutsche in the original sense. The main reason is a transition rule from the reform of the citizenship law of 1999.<\/p>\n According to \u00a7 40a StAG in its then-current version, Germans who did not hold German citizenship on August 1, 1999 acquired German citizenship by law on that day \u2013 without applying for it and without naturalization. This only applied to late-immigrants and their spouses and descendants included in the admission certificate if they had already received the certificate under \u00a7 15 BVFG before that date.<\/p>\n Important for the research: The current provision under \u00a7 40a StAG no longer has anything to do with this transition. Since the 2024 Citizenship Reform, it contains a transitional provision for ongoing naturalization procedures. Therefore, anyone citing the 1999 transition must cite the previous version (a.F.).<\/p>\n What does this mean in practice? For example, if your family came to Germany as late immigrants in 1995 and received the certificate before August 1999, you will usually have German citizenship at the latest since August 1, 1999 \u2013 even if you have never applied for naturalization.<\/p>\n For all subsequent cases, \u00a7 7 StAG is the applicable provision. It is not a continuation of the 1999 transition rule; it is an independent, permanent acquisition rule: late-incomers and family members included in the admission order become German citizens as soon as the certificate under \u00a7 15, Paragraph 1 or 2 of the BVFG is issued to them.<\/p>\n Since January 1, 1993, the procedure generally involves admitting the applicant as a late emigrant under \u00a7 4 of the BVFG, including the inclusion of spouses and descendants. The regular procedure requires that the admission decision be issued before departure. In cases of special hardship, it can exceptionally also be issued after relocation to Germany (\u00a7 27, paragraph 1, sentence 2 of the BVFG).<\/p>\n The most important prerequisites for the late-immigrant themselves:<\/p>\n Spouses and descendants who are included in the family must not themselves be German citizens. According to \u00a7 27, paragraph 2, of the BVFG, spouses and adult<\/em> Descendants possess basic knowledge of the German language (at the A1 level in practice); this requirement does not apply to minor descendants. Those who are unable to possess basic knowledge due to illness or disability are also exempt. In the case of spouses, the marriage must have lasted for at least three years at the time of the decision.<\/p>\n For years, many applications failed on a single detail: In an earlier document \u2013 such as the first domestic passport \u2013 the nationality was recorded as \u201eRussian\u201c or \u201eUkrainian\u201c. Authorities and courts interpreted this as a \u201edeclaration of opposition\u201c to another ethnic group. To overcome this, applicants had to demonstrate, in accordance with current jurisprudence, an internal change in consciousness and its external implementation \u2013 a very high hurdle.<\/p>\n The Bundestag amended \u00a7 6, section 2 of the BVFG in November 2023 (Act of 20 December 2023). Since then, nationality declarations that were changed before leaving the settlement area to become German ethnicity have taken precedence over earlier statements of non-German ethnicity. Even serious efforts to make such a change are sufficient. According to a notification from state interior ministries, procedures that were previously rejected due to a lack of knowledge can also be reopened.<\/p>\n However, the courts interpret this relief differently:<\/p>\n What does this mean for you? A previous entry \u201eRussian\u201c or \u201eUkrainian\u201c is no longer an automatic disqualification today. However, whether the subsequent change to your national identification document is sufficient depends on the individual case \u2013 and how the case law develops. And if your country of origin does not allow any change at all, formal attempts at change alone are of no use. If your application was previously rejected due to a lack of knowledge, a detailed examination of the decision is worthwhile.<\/p>\n<\/span>The wording: What does Article 116, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law say?<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
<\/span>Briefly explained: What is a \u201eStatusdeutscher\u201c?<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/span>Why are there \u201eGermans without citizenship\u201c?<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Brief explanation: What does \u201eGerman citizenship\u201c mean?<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/span>What does the \u201edate of December 31, 1937\u201c mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>\u201eSubject to any other legal regulation\u201c: The details are set out in the BVFG and StAG<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
<\/span>The path to citizenship in four steps<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
<\/span>From German citizen to national citizen: the transition from 1999<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>1 August 1999: statutory acquisition pursuant to \u00a7 40a StAG a.F.<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/span>Cases after 1999: Acquisition under \u00a7 7 StAG<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/span>Who can still become a German citizen under Article 116(1) of the German Constitution today?<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
<\/span>The \u201eDeclaration of Opposition\u201c: Reform 2023 and inconsistent jurisprudence<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
<\/span>Who belongs to which group? An overview<\/span><\/h2>\n