Article 116(2) or §15 StAG: which German citizenship route fits your family

Most Israelis who apply for German citizenship do so under one of two routes: Article 116(2) of the Basic Law, or §15 of the Nationality Act (StAG). Both are free, both have no generation limit, and neither requires giving up Israeli citizenship. The difference is what exactly happened to the ancestor, and when.

Article 116(2) of the Basic Law restores citizenship to anyone deprived of it between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 on political, racial or religious grounds, and to their descendants. The largest single deprivation was the 11th Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law of 25 November 1941: every Jew whose habitual residence was outside Germany on that day lost citizenship automatically. Anyone deported later was deemed to live abroad too, and lost it on deportation.

So a grandfather who left Berlin in 1936, reached Palestine, and in November 1941 still held only German citizenship was deprived of it. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren qualify under Article 116(2). Each of them applies in their own name, and there is no last generation.

§15 of the Nationality Act came into force on 20 August 2021 and closed the gaps Article 116(2) left. It covers four situations: an ancestor who gave up German citizenship or lost it before 26 February 1955 through the persecution, for example by naturalising elsewhere; one who was prevented from acquiring it, such as a Jewish woman who married a German and was refused, or children left out of their parents' naturalisation; one whose naturalisation application was refused or who was excluded from a collective naturalisation; and one who lost their habitual residence in Germany, if it existed before 30 January 1933.

The common case in Israel is the first. Someone who immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and took Palestinian citizenship before November 1941 had already lost German citizenship then, under §25 of the old Nationality Act, by naturalising elsewhere. On 25 November 1941 there was nothing left to revoke. So they do not fall under Article 116(2) but under §15: citizenship lost before 1955, because of the persecution.

One question sorts the two routes: was the ancestor still a German citizen on 25 November 1941? If yes, and they lived outside Germany or were deported later, it is Article 116(2). If they had already naturalised elsewhere before that, it is §15. The Palestinian naturalisation certificate, or the date of the British Palestinian passport, is the document that decides.

If you have no idea, that is fine. The BVA examines both bases, and the forms are similar. But a cover letter that states one correct basis, with the date that proves it, saves a round of queries. In a queue of two to three years, each round is months.

The Federal Constitutional Court held on 20 May 2020 (2 BvR 2628/18) that Article 116(2) also covers people who would not have received citizenship under the old gender rules: children born before 1975 to a deprived mother and a foreign father, and children born out of wedlock before 1993 to a deprived father. Anyone refused on that basis earlier can apply again, with no special form.

There is a third route, unrelated to persecution: the declaration under §5 of the Nationality Act. It is for people born after 23 May 1949 to a German parent who did not receive citizenship because of the old gender rules (a German mother and foreign father before 1975, a German father out of wedlock before 1993), and their descendants. It runs until 19 August 2031, and it is a declaration, not an application: it takes effect on the day the BVA receives it.

• Article 116(2): form A (or A_K for minors) and an Anlage AV per generation, from the BVA's Paket A.
• §15: form E15 (or E15_K) and the Anlage AV, from Paket E15. Plus a police certificate for applicants aged 14 and over, from every country they lived in for more than six months in the last 20 years. The BVA recommends sending it only when asked, because it expires.
• Both: birth and marriage certificates for every generation, proof of the ancestor's German citizenship, and proof of persecution or emigration.

Kav Yashar sorts the route in the chat from what happened to the relative, then writes the German cover letter with the right basis and the date that proves it. You obtain the records and file at the embassy in Tel Aviv. The BVA decides.