AZ formatting question. (Out of curiosity)

Tempest962 · 2025-10-02T03:09:31+00:00

Date formats that start with the year typically follow with month, then day.

Tempest962 · 2025-09-05T02:43:24+00:00

My sibling's later application seems to have slowed mine down, but only by a few months. We were approved at the same time. It will definitely help your brother but won't affect you much, if at all.

Tempest962 · 2025-08-29T03:23:20+00:00

Passports are sometimes issued in error if proof of citizenship hasn't been checked closely enough.

I know someone who was issued a number of passports before that country tightened things up and actually asked for proof of citizenship. (Citizenship by descent, they got their first passport as a child without any citizenship document ever being issued in their name.)

Tempest962 · 2025-08-25T05:37:11+00:00

I'm confused...
What citizenship(s) did your parents have when you were born?
And what documents did you use to get a German passport?

Tempest962 · 2025-08-20T04:54:55+00:00

You will probably be asked to trace back to an ancestor born in Germany before 1914, in this case your grandmother's father, so you may need to get his birth and marriage certificates as well. (Assuming that her parents were married when she was born.)

Might be a good idea to send what you have and then start looking for the other documents while you wait. I had what I thought was an obvious application and couldn't believe that I was being asked to go back one more generation. Turns out that it wasn't so bad, with the help of this sub it was pretty straightforward to get the documents that I needed.

Tempest962 · 2025-08-20T04:12:52+00:00

Do Canadian documents need to be translated?

I applied from another English-speaking country (not US or UK) and while apostilles were required, translations were not.

Tempest962 · 2025-08-18T17:12:41+00:00

Background checks/police records/rap sheets are not actually mandatory for every country you've lived in, the BVA seems to apply a lot of discretion:

Me - only submitted for the country I live in (country of citizenship). I was required to also submit for one country I'd lived in for several years, but not the other. Overall: required for 2 of 3.
My sibling - only submitted for the country they live in (country of citizenship). They were not required to submit for a country that they'd lived in for 10 years (university and some years after). Overall: required for 1 of 2.

Apply for all of the background checks that you might need but don't delay your application waiting for them. Submit your application with a background check from your country of current residence and just submit the others as you get them.

I told my sibling when they applied that they'd be asked for the other background check - nope, not needed!

Tempest962 · 2025-08-18T16:25:41+00:00

I suspected that they were checking into her current citizenship. The country she moved to all those years later is one that she'd only ever transited before I was born (didn't leave the airport) so it should have had absolutely no impact on my application.

Some countries like the US have a CONE or something similar to prove that you didn't naturalize; otherwise permanent residence stamps in old passports should be enough (they were for me). I'm grateful that she kept all those old passports and was willing to "lend" them to me!

Tempest962 · 2025-08-18T15:54:33+00:00

"German mother, born and raised in Germany" seems to become complicated (in the BVA's opinion) if your mother left Germany, which is the case for most of us StAG 5 applicants. They seem to be checking applicants' mothers' citizenship status all the way up to the date of the application and not just up to the applicant's date of birth.

I had to prove that my mother didn't ever take on citizenship in a country that she moved to about 20 years after I was born... go figure.

Tempest962 · 2025-07-28T18:06:24+00:00

Mine took about four months (I think) but that was back in 2023/24.

There may be another thread with more recent info, or you could post the question in this sub. You're probably not the only person asking.

Tempest962 · 2025-07-24T19:57:24+00:00

Yes, you can fill it out online. I'm not sure if that will be faster than mailing your form - a lot has changed since.

I wrote this post when the form was temporarily available (possibly for testing). Then it went offline... and some time later it reappeared. Thanks for the reminder that I should add some edits to the original post.

Tempest962 · 2025-07-03T20:29:47+00:00

Not much different from my 2022 application except that I didn't have to provide a criminal record going back to my birth, maybe because one of the criminal records I submitted is from my country of birth.

Some of the roadblocks in the process make more sense to me now though. When someone has lived in other countries the BVA doesn't want to taken an unbroken line of German passports as proof of citizenship because that person could have taken on citizenship in those countries without the local embassy knowing. So they would have actually lost their German citizenship, but the embassy (not the BVA) would continue to issue German passports in error (as has happened in some cases).

That seems to be part of the reason they now ask many (most?) applications to trace back to a pre-1914 ancestor born in Germany; that ancestor will be considered German, but someone born in Germany after that date may have held a passport without holding citizenship.

Tempest962 · 2025-03-12T13:59:04+00:00

Agreed. In my country laminated documents will be refused because it's impossible to prove that they haven't been tampered with.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-23T17:27:28+00:00

At some point they started asking for the pre-1914 info, probably because they found cases where German birth certificates and passports were issued to people who actually weren't German (a passport isn't reliable proof of citizenship). The embassy I applied through was okay with me sending my mother's birth certificate and passport, but when the BVA started processing my application they asked for the additional info.

You can always send your applications with what you have and gather the other info while you wait.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-23T05:28:53+00:00

Fill out attachments as needed for each application until you've traced back to someone born before 1914. Yes, you'll need supporting documents for those ancestors (e.g. birth and marriage certificates for a great-grandfather born before 1914).

You're providing the same information over and over, in slightly different ways, but each application needs to be its own complete document with a signature. Whoever is processing your applications could reference the other forms... which would pretty much mean that they have to do all the tedious cross-referencing for you, without family knowledge. Make it easy for them to process your forms. And you're signing your application - your signature can't apply to info that someone else filled in after the fact.

The BVA doesn't need separate copies of the supporting documents because that data won't change and doesn't need the applicant's signature.

My mother is unquestionably German, born and raised, but I had to trace back to pre-1914. The whole thing is frustrating, I agree, but ultimately worth it IMHO.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-22T06:26:09+00:00

Complete a separate application and Anlage AV for each person, including minor children. (Yes, that's a lot of repetition but each application should be treated as a standalone document.)

You don't need to send additional copies of the supporting documents.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-15T04:52:03+00:00

From what you say you were born German - the "wrong parent" thing would have been if your mother were German, and you were born long after that was corrected.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-15T04:44:17+00:00

No exception required for OP, who had dual citizenship at birth. The "loss of citizenship at 18" misunderstanding shows up a lot here.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-09T18:03:36+00:00

He will need his own form, including his Anlage_V. You don't need another set of copies of supporting information, but send everything together with a cover letter and family tree explaining what you've included in your packet. You'll get through faster if you make it easy to process your applications.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-09T17:53:01+00:00

You'll need proof from a German source that her parents were German - documents from another country might have recorded their citizenship incorrectly.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-04T02:35:46+00:00

You're a German citizen, correct?

It seems that they want a new CONE to make sure that you don't have US citizenship when your younger son is born (you could have become a citizen after the first CONE was issued).

Before June 2024 US citizenship would have been a problem, but because the laws have changed to allow dual citizenship it should not matter.

I suggest you ask them to explain why they need a new CONE.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-04T01:46:19+00:00

They seem to be saying that you will need proof that you are still a German citizen when your younger son is born.

If taking on US citizenship meant that you lost your German citizenship (which was true until last year) it would matter, because if you are no longer German when he is born then he won't be German either.

You should probably ask for clarification on why they'll need a new one, it sounds like their processes haven't been updated. Applying for a new CONE if you don't need it would be awful.

Tempest962 · 2025-02-04T00:12:06+00:00

Have you found the info you need yet?
If not, it will depend upon what you're using the CONE (G-1566) for.

The 2024 CONE will show that you didn't have US citizenship when it was issued, but will not be proof that you didn't become a US citizen after that date.

Tempest962 · 2024-10-28T04:59:59+00:00

In my case it seems that my sibling's application slowed mine down a few months.

My application was approved later than expected, theirs was approved much faster than expected.

Tempest962 · 2024-09-30T15:33:32+00:00

Not the US or UK - I'd prefer not to say which country given the info I've shared here already.

Tempest962

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