German Citizenship through ancestry

2POSTS

4 years ago

Hello everyone!

I am interested in applying for a German citizenship through ancestry but I have no idea what kind of documents I need or how should I begin with the process.

Currently living in Israel and have only an Israeli passport, my grandmother(mother's side) is an ethnic German born in Russia, nowadays she lives in Russia and doesn't have a German citizenship.
All her brothers and sisters with their children moved from Russia to Germany and received their citizenship in the early 2000s.

That's my long story short

Any help or information would be appreciated!

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EF1504 Member

2POSTS

4 years ago

beppi wrote:
Contact the nearest German embassy to enquire about the options and formalities!

I did send an email to the German embassy, just feel I received an automatic reply that asks me to fill a generic PDF file.
Was hoping to get some advice from people who encountered similar situations. In that file they ask for "simple copies of documents that state the German citizenship of your ancestor" and as far as I know my ancestors lived in nowadays Russia since 1800s or maybe even earlier.
Also they ask for information about German relatives that hold a German passport, I have distant relatives which are holding a German passport, so I am not sure if it is relevant in my situation.
Maybe I should fill the form from my grandmother perspective but it could be a bit of a problem since she is not very fit for dealing with all that stuff.

I will contact my distant relatives and hopefully they will be able to provide me some documents that might help me, maybe there is something specific I should ask for?

TominStuttgart Germany Expert

2814POSTS

4 years ago

Like Beppi mentioned, one should simply inquire at the embassy/consulate. Otherwise, a good overview of the rules is available on the Wiki page about Germany nationality law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationality_law

beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15663POSTS

4 years ago

If your ancestors were not German citizens, you have no claim for citizenship. Sorry!

DanieMarie Active member

40POSTS

4 years ago

I'm not really sure about your case because your ancestors weren't German citizens and did not live in Germany. It's not really enough to be ethnically German...

Usually, they only give you citizenship if you have a parent that was born in Germany (this is how I became German). But there are a few exceptions. One is if you have direct family that was Jewish and stripped of their rights in the Holocaust (but again, they would have had to have been in Germany), and I think there are (or at least were) some exceptions for ethnic Germans in Russia, but I don't know if it goes back that far or if they're still granting it in those cases...the youngest 'Russlanddeutsche that I know moved here in the 90s.

I'd contact your family that moved here and got citizenship....maybe they got it as Russlanddeutsche. I'm guessing that if they'd moved here, they could have also naturalized though.

As for documents, you'll need everyone's birth certificates, citizenship certificates, and probably marriage certificates and stuff like that going back at least to your grandmother. I'm guessing you'll also have to prove your German heritage somehow, but I'm not sure how in your case...possibly immigration documents showing when they came from Germany (even if it's far back?)

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