Germany is quietly handing back citizenship to people its own law wrongly denied, along with their descendants. The declaration must be received by 19 August 2031, and nothing about that date is negotiable.
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The only reason most readers should be looking at Germany, and it depends entirely on your family rather than on your money. If a parent or grandparent lost or never passed on German citizenship because of the old gender rules, the declaration route restores it with no residence, no investment and no language test, and descendants are covered too. The deadline is 19 August 2031. Without that ancestry, the ordinary path is five years of lawful residence and a permanent residence permit before you can even apply.
Citizenship by declaration (section 5 StAG)
Best for this
Restoring a claim the old law took away. No money, no move, and a hard deadline.
Who qualifies
Children of a German parent who did not pass citizenship on under the old gender rules, children of a mother who lost citizenship by marrying a non-German, and the descendants of either
Born after
23 May 1949, when the Basic Law took effect
Deadline
The declaration must be received by the Federal Office of Administration by 19 August 2031
What it costs
No investment, no residence in Germany, and no language test
Described here and scored nowhere, deliberately. Whether your particular family line qualifies turns on documents going back to a named ancestor, which is a question for a specialist and not for a ranking. What OmniFlag will tell you is that the door exists and when it shuts. The forms must be completed in German, and every ancestor in the chain needs documentary proof.
Self-employment permit (section 21 AufenthG)
Also fits
The route the ranking uses. Judged on your business, not on your bank balance.
The test
An economic interest or regional need, positive effects expected on the economy, and financing secured by own capital or a credit commitment
How it is judged
The viability of the business idea, your entrepreneurial experience, the amount of capital, the effect on jobs and training, and the contribution to innovation and research
Applicants over 45
Should only be granted the permit if they have adequate retirement provision
Permit length
Up to three years, after which a settlement permit becomes possible
There is no capital figure to quote, and that is the statute's own doing rather than a gap in our research. Section 21 makes the amount of capital one assessment criterion among five and sets no minimum, so an applicant cannot know the bar before applying. The decision also involves the local chamber of commerce and the trade authorities, which makes it as much a regional judgement as a federal one.
Living in Germany, and being taxed by Germany
These are decided by different authorities, under different rules, on different clocks. The one people get wrong is the second.
Your right to live there
Citizenship by declaration (section 5 StAG)
Self-employment permit (section 21 AufenthG)
Granted by the immigration authority. Says nothing about tax.
What makes you a tax resident there
A dwelling you keep
Having a dwelling in Germany under circumstances suggesting you will keep and use it, with no minimum number of days anywhere in the test
Section 8 AO, residence (gesetze-im-internet.de)
Habitual abode
Staying in circumstances that show the stay is not merely temporary, and in any case a continuous stay of more than six months, counted from its beginning
A permit lets you live in Germany. Tax residence is decided by the Fiscal Code, and its first limb is not about time at all: keeping a dwelling here under circumstances suggesting you will use it is enough on its own, with no day count to stay under. The second limb catches a continuous stay of more than six months, and counts it from the day it began rather than from the day the six months passed. Either one makes you liable to German tax on your worldwide income.
19 Aug 2031
The citizenship declaration must be received by the Federal Office of Administration by 19 August 2031 at the latest.
Descendants
Descendants of an eligible person can claim too, which carries the route down a generation.
5 years
Naturalisation is open after five years of lawful habitual residence, and needs an unlimited right of residence first.
A dwelling
Keeping a dwelling in Germany under circumstances suggesting you will use it makes you tax resident, with no day count anywhere in the test.
Quick eligibility read
No email needed
A generic read against Germany's cited thresholds. Your plan weighs all six of your inputs against every destination.
What German law says
The declaration route covers children of a German parent who did not acquire citizenship from them, including those born in wedlock to a German mother before 1975 and out of wedlock to a German father before 1 July 1993, plus children of a mother who lost her citizenship by marrying a non-German, and the descendants of any of them.
Only people born after the Basic Law took effect on 23 May 1949 can use the declaration. Those born before it apply under section 14 instead, where more conditions apply.
A residence permit for self-employment requires an economic interest or regional need, an expectation of positive effects on the economy, and financing secured by own capital or a credit commitment. No amount is set in the statute.
Someone has a residence in Germany wherever they keep a dwelling under circumstances suggesting they will keep and use it. The test contains no number of days.
A continuous stay of more than six months always counts as a habitual abode, and it counts from the beginning of that stay rather than from the day the six months are passed.
Anyone with a dwelling or a habitual abode in Germany is subject to unlimited income tax liability, which is Germany taxing worldwide income.
What an expert actually does, and when
Moving to Germany is four different jobs for four different people, and the order matters more than the choice of any one of them. Here is the sequence, what each person settles, and what to hold them to in writing.
First
A cross-border tax adviser in the country you are leaving
Before you sell anything, move your family, or claim to have left
This is the one whose answer can make the rest of the plan pointless, so it is worth knowing before you spend anything on the rest. A residence permit somewhere else is not the same thing as having stopped being tax-resident where you are.
What only they can settle
→Whether and when your tax residence at home actually ends
→Which ties (home, family, accounts, memberships, company control) have to be dealt with, and in what order
→What you owe on the way out, and what you can elect or defer
→Which transactions to complete before you go rather than after
Ask for it in writing. A written residence and departure-date memo, with the tax on leaving set out asset by asset, and a list of the evidence your position depends on.
Second
An immigration lawyer in the destination
Six to twelve months before you intend to move
Routes look interchangeable from outside and are not. Which one you qualify for depends on evidence you may not have gathered yet, and gathering it is often the long pole.
What only they can settle
→Which route your actual income, work history, and assets satisfy
→Which authority handles each stage, and whether your entry status has to change first
→What proof each requirement takes, and what is missing today
→How a partner and children are included, and when
Ask for it in writing. A route recommendation with the eligibility tested against your documents, plus a dated checklist of what is still missing.
Third
Document authentication and translation
Only after the lawyer has frozen the list
Ordering apostilles and translations before the list is settled is the most common way to pay twice. Certified documents also expire, so starting early can be worse than starting late.
What only they can settle
→Which authentication chain each document needs, in its issuing country
→What has to be translated, by whom, and to what standard
→The order to obtain things in, so nothing expires while waiting for something else
Ask for it in writing. Authenticated originals and accepted translations, tracked so you know where every document physically is.
Fourth
Local advisers where you land
Once your status is approved
Approval is not the same as a working life. Banking, health cover, and a tenancy each have their own requirements, and several of them want the paperwork from the earlier stages.
What only they can settle
→What banking will require of you, and what to prepare before you ask
→Which health cover satisfies the local requirement
→What a lease commits you to, and what your obligations are on registering it
→What you now have to file locally, and when
Ask for it in writing. A working household: identity documents, an address, cover, banking, and a calendar of what renews when.
Before you retain any of them
A good introduction is not the same as a good engagement. These are worth asking on the first call, whoever made the introduction.
1Who is licensed, where, and who signs the advice?
2What exact written output will I receive, and by when?
3Which assumptions, if wrong, would reverse your recommendation?
4Who tracks deadlines and holds my original documents?
5What is excluded from the fee, including government charges?
OmniFlag is not a law firm or a tax adviser. Experts are retained independently and their engagement letter defines what they advise on, what they file, and what they deliver.
A US citizen or green-card holder keeps their US federal filing obligation in Germany, because the United States taxes on citizenship. Acquiring German citizenship by declaration adds a nationality and removes no American obligation.
What nobody puts on the Germany brochure
The declaration route has a hard end. It must be received by 19 August 2031, and the ten-year window it belongs to was opened deliberately in 2021 rather than left open. A family that starts gathering documents in 2030 is unlikely to finish in time.
The self-employment permit gives an applicant nothing to check themselves against. The statute sets no capital minimum, makes the amount one criterion among five, and hands the assessment partly to local chambers and trade authorities, so the answer varies by region and by case.
Naturalisation is not simply five years of being present. Section 10 requires lawful habitual residence for five years and an unlimited right of residence at the time of the application, so the permanent residence permit is a step before the passport rather than part of it.
There is no incoming-resident tax regime of any kind, and worldwide income is taxed at ordinary German rates from the moment a dwelling or a habitual abode exists. Anyone comparing Germany with a Greek or Italian flat rate is comparing different products.
The administration runs in German. Registration, tax, insurance and permit renewals all assume it, and the gap between what an English-speaking arrival expects and what the office requires is the most reliable source of friction in the first year.
Indicator, not law · OmniFlag assessment
What people get wrong about Germany
Each of these is something a confident search result will tell you. Each is wrong, and the rule that corrects it is named.
Commonly believed “The 2024 reform means I can claim German citizenship through my ancestry.”
What the rule says Two different things are being run together. The reform shortened naturalisation and dropped the requirement to give up your existing nationality, but it is still naturalisation: five years of lawful habitual residence in Germany and an unlimited right of residence before you apply. The ancestry route is section 5, it is a declaration rather than an application, it needs no residence at all, and it exists only for people denied citizenship by the old gender-discriminatory rules and their descendants.
Commonly believed “Any German ancestor gives me a claim under the declaration route.”
What the rule says It is a narrow class, not a general ancestry route. It covers people who did not become German, or who lost it, because the law treated mothers and fathers differently, plus their descendants. It is also closed to anyone born before 23 May 1949, who has to use section 14 naturalisation with more conditions attached. A German great-grandparent who simply emigrated confers nothing here.
Commonly believed “If I stay under 183 days Germany will not tax me.”
What the rule says There is no 183-day rule in the German test. Section 8 of the Fiscal Code makes you resident if you have a dwelling here under circumstances suggesting you will keep and use it, with no day count at all, so an available flat can be enough by itself. Section 9 adds a six-month limb, and where that applies it counts from the beginning of the stay rather than from the day the six months are exceeded.
Section 8 AO, residence (gesetze-im-internet.de)
Common questions about Germany
What is the deadline for the citizenship declaration?
The declaration must be received by the Federal Office of Administration by 19 August 2031 at the latest. It belongs to a ten-year window opened when the amendments came into force on 20 August 2021.
Do I have to live in Germany to use the declaration route?
No. It carries no residence requirement, no investment and no language test. What it does require is documentary proof of descent and of the reference person's German citizenship, and the forms must be completed in German.
How much capital does the self-employment permit need?
The statute sets no figure. Section 21 requires financing secured by own capital or a credit commitment, and treats the amount of capital as one of five assessment criteria alongside the business idea, your experience, the effect on jobs and the contribution to innovation.
Would I keep my current nationality if I naturalised?
Section 10 lists the conditions for naturalisation and giving up an existing nationality is not among them, which is the substance of the 2024 change. Confirm your own position with a specialist before acting, since your other country's law also has a view on it.
The Planner ranks Germany against your profile alongside every other destination OmniFlag covers, and returns a plan with every claim cited. A human reviews it before it reaches you.
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OmniFlag helps you research and plan. It is not a law firm or tax advisor and does not give legal or tax advice. Licensed experts validate the plan before anything is filed: a cross-border tax adviser where you are leaving, then an immigration lawyer in Germany.
