The German declaration route explained
The German declaration route, under section 5 of the Nationality Act, lets people born after 23 May 1949 become German by a simple declaration if the old rules that treated mothers and fathers differently kept them from citizenship at birth, and it extends to their descendants.
Typical cases are a child of a German mother and a foreign father who were married, born before 1 January 1975, and a child of a German father not married to the mother, born before 1 July 1993. There is no fee, but the declaration must be received by the federal office by 19 August 2031.
Make the declaration in six steps
The steps as the federal office's information sheet describes them. Track each document in your cases as you go.
- Find the entitled person. Work out who in your line the old rules left out: usually a parent born between 1949 and 1975 to a German mother, or before 1993 to an unmarried German father.
- Map the chain. List yourself, your parent and, if the entitlement sits higher up, your grandparent, with births and marriages for each.
- Gather the civil records. Your birth and marriage certificates, the entitled ancestor's birth certificate, and your parents' and if needed grandparents' marriage certificates.
- Prove the German ancestor. An old German passport, citizenship card, naturalisation certificate or similar document for the parent or grandparent your right comes from.
- Get a police certificate. From your country of residence, covering the whole country, no more than six months old, sent as the original.
- Send the declaration in time. Fill in the official declaration form and annex and make sure it reaches the federal office by 19 August 2031. Receipt counts, not posting.
Who qualifies
The federal office's information sheet gives a checklist. You may be entitled if you were born after 23 May 1949 and:
- your mother was German at your birth, your father was not, your parents were married, and you were born before 1 January 1975;
- your father was German at your birth, your mother was not, your parents were not married before 1 July 1998, you were born before 1 July 1993, and paternity was recognised before you turned 23;
- your mother lost German citizenship by marrying a foreigner before 1 April 1953 and you were born after that loss;
- you lost citizenship through legitimation before 1 April 1953; or
- you descend from someone in one of these groups.
It is closed to anyone who later acquired German citizenship another way and then lost it again, and to children of parents caught by the generation cut-off for births abroad after 1999.
What form the documents must be in
Send originals or copies certified by a notary, by the registrar who made the entry, or by a German authority. Foreign public documents need an apostille or legalisation unless they come from an EU state or Switzerland, and anything not in German needs a translation by a sworn translator. The office recommends sending certified copies, because originals come back only on request. See apostilles and translations explained.
Worked example: a German grandmother
In the invented German sample, Daniel's mother Ingrid was born in 1962 to a German mother, Hildegard, and a Canadian father who were married: exactly the first group on the checklist. Daniel claims as her descendant. The register lists 9 documents, four of them his own, and on 28 September 2026 the deadline was 1,786 days away.
The discrepancy check finds one mismatch: Hildegard's birth record says "Breslau" and her old passport, as later copied, says "Wroclaw", the same city under its German and Polish names. If Ingrid's birth date were entered as 1948 instead, the chain view would warn: "Ingrid Weber was born before 24 May 1949; the declaration covers people born after 23 May 1949."
Common mistakes
- Waiting for the deadline. The declaration has to be received by 19 August 2031, and old records can take months to arrive and translate.
- Posting originals you cannot replace. Send certified copies unless the office asks for an original.
- Using a police certificate from one state or province. It must cover your whole country of residence and be no more than six months old.
- Leaving out the ancestor annex. If your right comes from a grandparent, the office needs the grandparents' details to check the parent's entitlement.
- Assuming it restores lost citizenship in every case. It is a remedy for the old rules on mothers and fathers; persecution cases use a different route.
Start your dossier
Pick your country and route, add the people in your line, and the register lists every document the route asks for, with the rule behind each one. Free for one case. Your family's records stay in this browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a fee for the German declaration?
The federal office charges no fee for the declaration itself. What you spend on documents, apostilles and translations is not refunded.
Do I have to give up my current citizenship?
Germany does not ask you to. Whether you keep your current citizenship is for your own country's law, which you should check before declaring.
When do I become German?
On the day the federal office receives the declaration, once it has confirmed you qualify. You then receive a certificate showing that date.
What if my ancestor was persecuted between 1933 and 1945?
That is the restoration route under Article 116(2) of the Basic Law or section 15 of the Nationality Act, which has its own forms and no deadline in the texts we read.
Sources
Last reviewed 28 September 2026 against:
- Information sheet: acquisition of German citizenship by declaration, for persons living abroad, German federal office that handles citizenship cases from abroad, PDF, page 1 dated July 2024 and pages 2 to 7 dated October 2025, read 28 September 2026. Used for: Who is entitled, the deadline, the documents, their form, fees and the day citizenship begins.
- Nationality Act (StAG), section 5, German federal statute database (gesetze-im-internet.de), current consolidated text, read 28 September 2026. Used for: The declaration right and its ten year limit.
- Nationality Act (StAG), section 4, German federal statute database (gesetze-im-internet.de), current consolidated text, read 28 September 2026. Used for: The generation cut-off for parents born abroad after 1999.
This guide is our own summary of the sources, not legal advice. Rules change: if it disagrees with the current official page, the official page wins, and the consulate or a lawyer should confirm your case. Rootdossier is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any government, consulate, embassy, ministry, court or law firm, including the German, Irish, Polish, Canadian and Italian authorities that decide citizenship cases.