Germany Former German Residence
Germany
Residency
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See if you're a match →Germany has a residence route for former German citizens. A former German may be entitled to settlement or residence if they had ordinary residence in Germany when German citizenship was lost, and former Germans abroad may be granted residence if they have sufficient German-language ability.
- Type
- Former-citizen residence
- Who it covers
- People who personally used to be German citizens
- Core requirements
- Former German status and Section 38 residence or language basis
- What to know
- Descendants should use German citizenship pathways instead
Summary
Germany has a special residence route for former German citizens. It is a residence pathway, not a citizenship restoration route.
The strongest statutory cases are:
- A former German who had ordinary residence in Germany for five years when German citizenship was lost can be granted a settlement permit
- A former German who had ordinary residence in Germany for at least one year when German citizenship was lost can be granted a residence permit
- A former German living abroad may be granted a residence permit if they have sufficient German
For the residence-in-Germany cases, the application must generally be filed within six months of learning of the loss of German citizenship.
Eligibility
- Person who personally used to be a German citizen, or a person treated as German by German authorities in a qualifying case
- Not currently German
- Residence-in-Germany basis at the time citizenship was lost, or sufficient German under the abroad rule
- Timing rule satisfied where it applies
- Standard residence documents
What This Pathway Allows
Depending on the facts, the pathway can lead to a German residence permit or, in the strongest five-year-at-loss case, a settlement permit.
What This Pathway Is Not
This is not the pathway for descendants of former German citizens. If your German connection is through a parent, grandparent, or Nazi-era persecution history, compare the citizenship pathways instead:
- German citizenship by descent
- German Article 116(2) restoration
- German Section 15 StAG restoration
- German Section 5 StAG declaration
Next Steps
- Confirm how and when German citizenship was lost.
- Confirm whether you lived in Germany as a German for one or five years at the time of loss.
- If relying on the abroad rule, confirm German-language ability.
- Check the six-month timing rule if using the residence-in-Germany basis.
- Prepare former-citizenship, loss, residence, language, and identity documents.