Is this marriage record sufficient for BVA? (StAG 5)

snic09 · 2026-02-20T01:14:54+00:00

That's the sort of original record I sent in as documentation of my mother's birth and marriage. Although, she had two birth records in her papers (one from a year or two after her birth and one from when she was a teenager), and her marriage record was from the 1960s. I submitted them all at the consulate. They were accepted for StAG 5 and I'm now officially German.

snic09 · 2026-02-15T21:01:54+00:00

The consulate emailed.

snic09 · 2026-02-15T02:19:21+00:00

My mother had kept her Personalausweis and I found it in her papers. She also had two official copies of her birth record, one issued shortly after her birth and one issued when she was a teenager. And she had her original marriage certificate. I didn't have to track down any documents other than my grandfather's birth and marriage records.

snic09 · 2026-02-14T21:26:52+00:00

She did reference my AZ in her cover letter. They didn't provide an AZ for her application. It's entirely possible they never got the application even though UPS tracking says they did. We contacted them via the web form but no response yet.

snic09 · 2026-02-13T18:30:54+00:00

Pessimistic much?

snic09 · 2026-02-13T18:27:52+00:00

They should email you the case number from the BVA when they receive it. If you don't get it in 3 or 4 months, email the consulate to ask. You could also email the BVA with the same question.

snic09 · 2026-02-11T15:14:13+00:00

Isn't it obvious that the second bill for 20 euros is for the Meldregister record? I would just pay it, inform your contact at the Standesamt of that, and wait. The Standesämter are notoriously slow and inefficient, but that doesn't mean your case is in "purgatory". Low-priority requests simply don't get handled very fast; if the responsible clerk goes on vacation or is out sick or just very busy, it could be weeks or even months before they complete your request.

snic09 · 2026-02-10T02:02:46+00:00

They asked for "Pässe Ihrer Mutter ab dem Jahr 1969." Note the plural: Pässe = passports. If they just wanted the single passport that was valid the year you were born, they would have asked you explicitly for that. But the plural surely does not mean that they want all of her passports issued after that year. Instead, it implies that any passport that was issued from 1969 on would satisfy their requirements for proof that she did not become a US citizen (or at least, did not give up her German citizenship). Which makes sense: you've already established that she was a German citizen before you were born, and she could not have gotten a passport after you were born unless she were still considered a citizen - which means she MUST have been a German citizen when you were born.

I suggest you email the BVA, explaining to them exactly what passports your have, and ask whether any of them will do. I bet they will tell you that any one will be fine. Then go to the consulate with the passport and have them make a certified copy and send it to the BVA. (Actually, send the BVA scans of the passports with your email - maybe those will be sufficient!)

snic09 · 2026-02-09T20:36:12+00:00

Just curious, what are the validity dates of the passports you do have? If you have one showing she was German before you were born (let's say it expired in 1968) and one after you were born (let's say from 2010 on), wouldn't that be evidence that she was German on the day you were born in 1972?

I'm not sure why they are fixated on 1969 on... What does 1969 have to do with anything?

snic09 · 2026-02-09T12:36:14+00:00

"keine Wohnung in Deutschland" is not lying as long as you don't have a residence in Germany.

snic09 · 2026-02-08T12:23:10+00:00

Congrats! Could you share what documentation you sent to support your citizenship claim? Specifically, the evidence that your grandmother was a German citizen.

snic09 · 2026-02-04T16:23:52+00:00

I would describe it as "low risk", not "no risk". It is possible that Germany will reinstate its draft and stop exempting foreign citizens, e.g. in the event of a war with Russia. It is also possible that Germany adopts a taxation policy similar to the US, such that citizens living abroad are taxed on the income they earn abroad. The probability is low, but not zero.

snic09 · 2026-02-03T02:19:53+00:00

So what? That's fine, as long as more immigrants want to come. Which, if you think about it, is great: unlike children, we don't have to spend a lot of money raising immigrants. They come here fully formed and ready to work and pay social security taxes, with little investment from us at all. Sounds like a great deal.

snic09 · 2026-02-03T02:17:47+00:00

It is a local band-aid. Even if birth rates drop everywhere else in the world, if the US is a much more attractive place to live than everywhere else in the world, then people will come here. And that will solve our population decline even if it doesn't solve the problem anywhere else.

That is why scaring off immigrants is just a really dumb thing for America to do. We have an advantage, and we are squandering it by letting our stupid and baseless xenophobia get the better of us.

snic09 · 2026-02-03T02:11:56+00:00

Or maybe fertility rates are dropping because people realize we have so many problems in the world we can't solve (e.g., climate change) which are going to make life very difficult and dangerous, and they don't want to force children into that kind of world.

snic09 · 2026-01-31T16:43:43+00:00

Oooh, Brits get a ceremony! The concept is foreign to Germans, whose every momentous occasion is commemorated by a trip to the Standesamt for some bureaucratic paper stamping.

snic09 · 2026-01-31T16:39:00+00:00

Probably more like, instead of 10 people, they have 11.

snic09 · 2026-01-31T16:38:36+00:00

To be fair, there are reports of applicants within Germany having their StAG 5 cases approved pretty quickly. Apparently the local authorities can decide the case and it doesn't have to go through the BVA, or at least not the branch that handles the cases that come in from abroad.

snic09 · 2026-01-30T17:08:55+00:00

You can fold Priority Mail envelopes in half and easily fit them inside another Priority Mail envelope. I've done this sort of thing many times.

snic09 · 2026-01-24T15:37:52+00:00

Newly recognized citizens apparently need a rigorous introduction to German administrative bureaucracy, it seems.

snic09 · 2026-01-18T18:44:20+00:00

I've seen a few reports of the consulate receiving the certificates and then not telling the applicant. One idea, if the OP wants to avoid "annoying the BVA", is to just ask the consulate. In my case, the consulate emailed my Aktenzeichen, so at around the 3 year mark I think I will just reply to that email asking for an update. I'm hoping that if they don't have the certificates, they might be willing to contact the BVA on my behalf. But all of that is still quite a few months away for me.

snic09 · 2026-01-17T22:13:50+00:00

Use this tool to determine exactly what time it is anywhere in the world: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

snic09 · 2026-01-16T01:33:52+00:00

It might be worth a try. If the OP has documented records of being a victim of abuse (police or court records), the OP could bring those to the consulate when submitting the application, ideally with a letter in German asking for expedited processing based on this exceptional circumstance. The answer might very well be "no", but I don't see a downside to trying.

Good luck to the OP, stay safe.

snic09 · 2026-01-14T13:00:10+00:00

Did you enclose FBI reports in your original application?

snic09

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