• Inclusion in the decision on admission of a late resettler under §4 BVFG retroactively is possible without preliminary conditions upon the personal application of the late resettler. Inclusion is possible even many years after the main applicant's resettlement to Germany. This rule helps overcome long-term family separation and eliminates many difficult life situations.
• The requirement to prove German language skills acquired in the family circle during childhood and youth has been eliminated. It is now permissible to prove one's status as a late resettler by studying German and passing a B1 level exam. Now Russian Germans who cannot prove German language skills at a native level can acquire late resettler status.
• The entry of non-German nationality with subsequent change of the nationality entry to German nationality no longer hinders resettlement to Germany. Previously, a single entry of non-German nationality in the applicant's documents in most cases led to rejection of the application for admission to Germany.
• Proof of German language skills at the level of a half-forgotten but native language can replace a documentary entry of German nationality. As is known, a number of post-Soviet states have abolished the documentary entry of nationality in their post-Soviet documents.
• A previous final refusal to grant late resettler status does not prevent the submission of a new application for admission.
• The scope of application of the excluding circumstances of §5 BVFG has been significantly narrowed. The concept of a pillar of the totalitarian regime (which excludes from the late resettler group) has been refined through years of practice. Currently, many positions and functions that 15-20 years ago would have led to rejection of a resettlement application under §5 BVFG have fallen outside its scope.
These important changes, taken together, allow for the resolution of many complex resettlement cases in individual instances. The new law is also applicable to old cases of family reunification under hardship circumstances. The need to prove the need for outside assistance for the late resettler living in Germany is eliminated.
The aforementioned simplifications in the procedure for granting late resettler status have triggered a certain wave of new and repeat applications from residents of the former USSR for admission to Germany under the status of expelled persons of German ethnicity. This wave is not comparable to the resettlement wave of the early 1990s, but has caused a certain backlog in processing applications.
The time factor is especially important for applicants for inclusion under §7 BVFG. During the processing period of an application for inclusion, the elderly and sick main applicant (§4 BVFG) may die. Their death deprives the application for inclusion of legal force. With the help of a specialized lawyer's tools, it is possible to expedite the procedure for considering an application for inclusion in the admission decision retroactively. Nevertheless, 'the process is underway' and the Office for the Admission of Late Resettlers has begun to issue admission decisions for new applications, repeat applications for granting late resettler status, and applications for inclusion retroactively under the status of descendant.
The new law has given persons of German origin living in Germany without late resettler status the opportunity to upgrade their legal position to §4 BVFG. This is an important positive aspect of the new law, whether or not it was the legislator's intention. The new law is designed for Germans from the CIS countries, but the letter of the law is clearly also applicable to residents of Germany of German nationality who have long been living in Germany. Leading court instructions from 2014 confirmed the applicability of the law to residents of Germany and the possibility for them to upgrade their status to §4 BVFG on the spot, even many years after resettlement to Germany.
Thomas PUE,
German lawyer.