§5 StAG Declaration

§5(1) item 1, first variant — In-wedlock children of German mothers (pre-1975)

Those born in wedlock between May 23, 1949 and January 1, 1975 to a German mother and a non-German father, who could not inherit the mother's citizenship under old law.

Until January 1, 1975, only the father's citizenship transmitted to children born in wedlock. A child born to a German mother and a non-German father acquired only the father's citizenship — the mother's German citizenship could not pass. This is the §5 route for descendants of German women who emigrated and married foreign nationals before 1975. The BVA's checklist asks for all four facts together: your birth inside that window, your mother German on the day of your birth, your father not German that day, and your parents married before your birth.

§5(1) item 1, second variant — Non-marital children of German fathers (pre-1993)

Those born out of wedlock to a German father between May 23, 1949 and July 1, 1993 whose paternity was established in time, but who still did not become German because the law of the day did not transmit from an unmarried German father.

BVA's checklist for this variant has five boxes — one more than the mother variant above — and all five have to be ticked: born after May 23, 1949 and before July 1, 1993; your mother not a German citizen on the day of your birth; your father a German citizen on that day; your parents not married to each other before 1 July 1998 — the condition most often dropped from summaries of this route, and the one that decides whether you need it at all, because a parental marriage before that date legitimised the child under the law then in force and conferred German citizenship directly; and paternity recognised, or proceedings to establish it started, before your 23rd birthday. The mother and father conditions are two separate rows on the form, not one combined row.

Read that last condition carefully, because it runs the opposite way from most people's expectation: the BVA requires that paternity was recognised, or that proceedings to establish it were started, before your 23rd birthday. This variant is for people who cleared that hurdle and were still excluded by the pre-1993 rule — not for people whose paternity was never established. If neither limb was met — no acknowledgement of paternity and no proceedings begun — before your 23rd birthday, §5 does not open. Note it is either limb, not both: proceedings STARTED in time still count even if they concluded later. It sits inside item 1 alongside the mother variant, not in item 2.

§5(1) item 2 — Mothers who lost citizenship by marriage before April 1, 1953

Those born after their German mother lost her own German citizenship by marrying a non-German man before April 1, 1953.

Until April 1, 1953, marriage to a foreign man automatically stripped a German woman of her citizenship. A child born after that marriage never acquired German citizenship, because the mother no longer held any to transmit. This is a loss-to-the-mother scenario, distinct from the item 1 transmission failure, and the cutoff date is April 1, 1953 — not the May 23, 1949 birth threshold discussed below. The marriage must also have come before your birth: a mother who married after you were born did not take your citizenship with her. BVA's checklist adds a fourth condition people forget — your father was not a German citizen on the day you were born either; if he was, you took German citizenship from him and there is nothing for item 2 to repair.

The April 1, 1953 date is not arbitrary and it is not in the StAG. It comes from Art. 117(1) of the Basic Law, which let law inconsistent with the equality of men and women under Art. 3(2) stay in force “but not beyond 31 March 1953”. That is the day the marriage-loss rule died, which is why the qualifying marriage has to be earlier.

§5(1) item 3 — Acquired-then-lost through legitimisation

Those born after May 23, 1949 and before April 1, 1953 to a German mother, who acquired German citizenship at birth and then lost it when their parents married.

A child born out of wedlock to a German mother inherited her citizenship. If the mother then married the child's non-German father, the marriage “legitimised” the child under the law of the time and moved the child onto the father's citizenship, extinguishing the German citizenship acquired at birth. Item 3 is narrow, and it is bounded on both sides: the BVA's checklist requires that you were born after May 23, 1949 and before April 1, 1953, and that the marriage happened after your birth but still before April 1, 1953. The checklist also asks that your father was not a German citizen on either date that matters — the day of your birth and the day he married your mother. Note the trigger is the marriage, not a modern acknowledgement of paternity on its own. BVA flags that the loss did not follow in every case, so a marriage inside the window is the question, not the answer.

§5(1) item 4 — Descendants of items 1, 2, or 3

Descendants of anyone in items 1, 2, or 3.

The statute says “Abkömmlinge der Kinder nach Nummer 1 bis 3” and attaches no generation cap. Critically, the parent or grandparent does not need to have filed their own §5 declaration before you file yours — each descendant may file independently, and the BVA assesses that ancestor's entitlement as part of your file rather than requiring a decision on theirs first.

One practical caveat worth raising with the BVA before you file if your qualifying ancestor is further back than a parent: the annex to the declaration form asks you to name the maßgeblicher Elternteil — the parent from whom you derive the claim — and to identify them as entitled under item 1, 2 or 3. The form is built around a one-generation step even though the statutory word is not.

Ancestor's German records

Long-form German birth certificate (from the relevant Standesamt) establishing the ancestor was a German citizen at birth, and the document behind the loss or the failure to acquire: your parents' marriage certificate for item 1's mother variant, your mother's marriage certificate for item 2, the paternity recognition or paternity-proceedings record for item 1's father variant, and — for item 3 — your parents' marriage certificate showing a wedding after your birth and before April 1, 1953.

Chain records (for §5(1) item 4)

Long-form birth certificates for each generation linking you to the qualifying ancestor, plus any relevant marriage certificates for name changes. §5 does not require proving German citizenship for intermediate generations — but it does require proving it for the ancestor you claim through, and collect one generation further back than you would expect: the BVA first tests whether the parent you derive the claim from is itself entitled under items 1 to 3, using the details of that parent's own parents — so a descendant's file has to carry the grandparents' records too. BVA says it will come back for records on ancestors beyond that if the qualifying person's German citizenship cannot be shown from German documents directly.

Applicant's records

Your long-form birth certificate, passport or national ID, and — if applicable — marriage certificate.

Police certificate (frequently missed)

The BVA asks every declarant for a police certificate covering your whole country of residence, in the original, no more than six months old. For applicants in the United States that means an FBI Identity History Summary — a state-level background check is explicitly not accepted, because the certificate has to cover the whole country. Order it late rather than early: the six-month clock runs against you while the rest of the package is assembled.

Your certificate is not the only check. §5(1) Satz 2 applies §37 StAG to declarations, and §37 requires the citizenship authority to send the personal data of every applicant aged 16 or over to the domestic intelligence services (Verfassungsschutzbehörden) to screen for the §11 Satz 1 Nr. 1 and Nr. 2 exclusion grounds. BVA says so in its own words on the §5 route — “Auch eine Beteiligung des Verfassungsschutzes ist gesetzlich vorgeschrieben” — and lists it alongside its enquiries of other German authorities as a reason the wait is what it is. There is nothing to file for it and nothing you can do to speed it up.

Vordruck_EER

The §5 declaration form (Erklärung zum Erwerb der deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit), with Anlage_EER alongside it if you have no other citizenship case already open at the BVA, and Anlage_AV for further ancestors. You may send it to the BVA yourself or hand it to your nearest German mission, which forwards it — but remember that the deadline turns on receipt at the Bundesverwaltungsamt — not the postmark, and not lodgement at a consulate. All of this is the route for applicants living abroad, which is who the BVA Merkblatt is written for; if you live in Germany, BVA directs you to your local Staatsangehörigkeitsbehörde — the town or district administration — for the forms and the procedure instead.

Sworn translations — and the form the originals take

All non-German records must be translated by a sworn translator recognized by a German court; the BVA states that translations by non-sworn translators are not accepted. Separately, documents must be filed as originals or as copies certified by a notary, by the Standesamt that made the entry, or by a German authority — a plain photocopy is not enough, and a certification that only attests the translator's signature does not count. Copies have to show both sides of the certificate. Foreign civil-status documents generally also need legalisation or a Hague apostille. Send certified copies rather than originals wherever you can: BVA recommends exactly that, and says originals go back “upon special request after the process has been completed” — ask when you file, not afterwards.