Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz), Sections 4, 5 and 15
Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (StAG), §§ 4, 5, 15
Germany's core nationality statute. Section 4 sets out ordinary descent through a German parent. Section 5, added in a 2021 reform, lets people whose parent was German but who missed out purely due to historical sex discrimination in citizenship law acquire citizenship by declaration — if the declaration reaches the Bundesverwaltungsamt by 19 August 2031. Section 15, in force since August 2021, closes gaps in Nazi-era restitution claims that Article 116(2) of the Basic Law alone left open.
What this law actually does
Section 4: a child of a German-citizen parent is German by descent, subject to historical rules on the citizenship of women and children born outside marriage, and (from 1913 to 27 June 2024) automatic loss of German citizenship on naturalising elsewhere without a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung).
Section 5: a German mother whose child (born in wedlock, 23 May 1949–31 December 1974) did not inherit her citizenship, or a German father of a child born out of wedlock before 1 May 1993, can acquire citizenship by declaration — received by the Bundesverwaltungsamt no later than 19 August 2031.
Section 15: descendants of people denaturalised for Nazi-era persecution (1933–1945) can claim restitution even where the ancestor later naturalised elsewhere as part of fleeing persecution — a fact that would defeat a standard Section 4 descent claim but does not defeat this route.
This law is one piece of the Germany eligibility picture. See the full overview for how it interacts with disqualifiers, documents, and timelines.
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