TLDR at the bottom
We are coming from the Republic of Cyprus, an EU land, and we’ve been in Germany for 10 years. That includes German course, med studies and now working at a hospital in Hamburg. We never left the country apart from holidays and never unregistered ourselves from a city or whatever. We are both fluent in German but I am writing this here since more migrants are active here.
Last May we welcomed our first kid to the world, deciding to have the birth here in Germany since it would have made things easier. Right? Tons of benefits for all of us, high level healthcare, having the birth at the hospital I work at, German citizenship upon birth, health insurance etc. But have we known what a total chaos it would’ve been we might as well have changed our minds. And let’s not talk about the incompetence of pediatrists, lactation consultants and OBGYNS around us that led my wife to tons of problems.
We have sent all papers upon birth through the hospital to the Behörde. 5-6 weeks later we were wondering what takes so long with the birth certificate, since in the internet it states that it takes 2-10 work days. In the 6th week we called the Birth certificate department (WHO NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE), and they’ve only told us that we are the NEXT IN LINE. Six whole weeks later they were about to check our documents. We contacted them again after tons of calls and in the 7th week we’ve been informed that they sent a request to the Auslandsbehörde about her citizenship. During the 8th week we were sent a Namenserklärung because of some regulations about her Surname, which has been sorted. During the 9th week after birth no answer on the phone ofc.
And here comes Monday the 31st July, 10 weeks after the birth. We were informed on the phone that she wont be getting the German citizenship, because we don’t fill the requirements (???). The woman on the telephone (from birth certificate department) told us that we must have worked for a specific time in Germany in order for the requirements to be filled.
[Das Geburtsortsprinzip (bundesregierung.de)](https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/suche/das-geburtsortsprinzip-460584) says completely otherwise. There’s nothing there about work time. We were both mouth dropped and shocked. Her having our citizenship is not that bad, but it leads to tons of other problems, since the delay has also caused so many. We can’t receive Elterngelt, Kindergelt, no Krankenversicherung for the baby, she doesn’t exist basically and she is over 2 months old. Insane.
For 4 hours we were on the phones, each department and ministry sending us to the next or back to the previous. We felt like ping pong balls. The birth certificate department of Standesamt Hamburg Nord told us to contact the Ausländerbehörde. They told us twice to contact the Bezirksamt Nord back. Utterly frustrated we contacted the general line of the Bundesregierung, which sent us to the Ministry of internal affairs. A very helpful lady on the phone told us that all of them need to google the Geburtsortprinzip, and if what we say about us is correct, our baby should be German.
Yesterday we went to the Standesamt, and we saw the official answer they received from the Ausländerbehörde about the request for German citizenship. A sole employee of them, decided that we fill ZERO requirements so that our daughter would get the citizenship. ZERO! We are European citizens, we dont need a visa, we don’t need papers to work here. And she decided that we do not have an Arbeitserlaubnis. HOW? Plus that we BOTH have not been in Germany for over 8 years, which is the minimum requirement, while Ive been registered in Hamburg since September 2014, and my wife in Bonn for the same period.
We are beyond words at this point. We have no clue who is going to help us. All central lines from Hamburg service or Migrationsamt dont even know where to sent us. Where can we complain at all? Are we missing something about the requirements about Geburtsortprinzip? We read and read it, and it’s actually very clear that we meet everything.
Sorry for the rant and congratz for reading until the end.
TLDR: daughter was born 2 months ago, we still have no birth certificate meaning no Elterngelt etc, plus she was given for the false reasons our citizenship instead of the German one, even we both parents fill all requirements for it. Unsure how to proceed and how to be heard.
by Adernain
4 comments
I do wonder if Germans/the German government understand the degree to which the Rechtsstaat principle is in danger due to administrative collapse.
If people can’t get what they need through official channels they will resort to other means. We all know, on this sub, that many many foreigners are living in legal limbo in this country. Either official gray area with a Fiktionsbescheinigung, or a darker grey without any official paperwork, but waiting for an appointment. Essentially bureaucratic backlog creates an underclass of people without official permission to live in the country.
Another area in certain cities is with building permits: people are renovating without permits because the Bauamt takes 2+ years to issue any permit. People are circumventing the law, creating potentially illegal apartments.
If the state can’t issue identity documents for children, what will be the consequence there? Are they going to create an underclass of non-existent humans? That would be worse than people waiting for immigration appointments.
This needs to be viewed as an absolute crisis, but I’m not sure it’s being discussed as such.
I am so sorry to hear this.
This is completely absurd especially the amount of time, taxes and effort you guys have spent in this country. I totally agree with your statement “A sole employee of them, decided that we fill ZERO requirements so that our daughter would get the citizenship. ZERO!”
Recently, my visa almost got revoked because a sole employee decided that my degree was not comparable to any German degree. For context, I have submitted my degree for KMK to evaluate and the outcome was “Formally Comparable”. Even the German Consulate in my home country has agreed that my degree is comparable as it is supposed to be. But that ONE employee from the foreign office said that “Oh KMK sent us an email saying that your degree is basically not the same SO I DONT CARE” despite having hard evidence that my degree was indeed comparable.
I literally went batshit because I am on the verge of getting kicked out of the country despite doing all the necessities.
>That includes German course, med studies and now working at a hospital in Hamburg. […] We were informed on the phone that she wont be getting the German citizenship, because we don’t fill the requirements (???). The woman on the telephone (from birth certificate department) told us that we must have worked for a specific time in Germany in order for the requirements to be filled.
I guess the question is, if your studies are fully considered as part of the gewöhnlicher und rechtmäßiger Auftenthalt.
>Zum Zeitpunkt der Geburt des Kindes muss mindestens ein Elternteil:
>
>sich seit mindestens acht Jahren gewöhnlich und rechtmäßig in Deutschland aufhalten
I know from the naturalization process, that this is not always the case that studies are considered as “gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt”, this is handled differently by some states.
You need to tell the Standesamt that there is an error.
Maybe asking for their supervisor. Print out the relevant parts of the law. Bring your passports to show you indeed European citzens.
Not sure what happened at the Ausländerbehörde, but I feel there was some sort of missunderstanding which nobody caught.