Citizenship Through Parent (Jure Sanguinis)

Eligibility Quiz

What's Happening

Coming up

Aug 19, 2031

Deadline expires for Section 5 StAG declarations—persons affected by gender discrimination in historical citizenship law must submit their declaration by this date or lose the right to acquire citizenship through this pathway.

mth-partner.de ↗

Today

German citizenship by descent is automatically acquired if at least one parent was a German citizen at your birth (with no deadline or requirements), dual citizenship is now fully permitted, and affected persons have until August 19, 2031 to declare citizenship under Section 5 if excluded by historical gender-discriminatory rules.

Oct 8, 2025

German Bundestag abolishes the fast-track (three-year) naturalization pathway introduced in 2024, restoring the standard five-year residency requirement for all naturalization applicants; citizenship by descent is unaffected.

envoyglobal.com ↗

Jun 27, 2024

Nationality Modernisation Act (StARModG) takes effect, permitting dual citizenship without restriction for all applicants acquiring German citizenship by descent or any other pathway, eliminating the need for retention permits.

mth-partner.de ↗

Aug 20, 2021

Fourth Act Amending the Nationality Act enters into force, creating Section 5 StAG—a ten-year declaration window (until August 19, 2031) for persons affected by gender-discriminatory citizenship rules to acquire German citizenship without language requirements or residency, and expanding Section 15 for Nazi persecution victims.

bva.bund.de ↗

May 20, 2020

Federal Constitutional Court expands Article 116(2) eligibility to include children born in wedlock before April 1, 1953 to German mothers and foreign fathers, and children born out of wedlock before July 1, 1993 to German fathers and foreign mothers—closing a major loophole that had excluded maternal descent.

fragomen.com ↗