Law against false paternity
Federal government targets “false fathers”
12.06.2024, 15:31
Every year, dozens of families fraudulently obtain a residence status in Germany by making false acknowledgements of paternity. The federal government wants to combat this more effectively. In suspected cases, registry offices will in future contact the immigration authorities directly.
The traffic light coalition wants to take stronger action against so-called fictitious paternity: a corresponding draft law was passed by the Federal Cabinet. In fictitious paternity cases, German men acknowledge – sometimes for money – paternity with which they have nothing to do. This enables the child to receive German citizenship. The mother and possibly siblings can obtain a right of residence and thus a claim to social benefits in Germany.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the SPD and liberal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann now want to introduce a stricter review procedure with their draft law. Even in the case of theoretically possible abuse, the recognition of a child should no longer be possible without the consent of the immigration authorities.
“We are putting a clear stop to deception and abuse of the law in order to obtain a right of residence in Germany,” said Faeser after the cabinet decision. Fake fatherhood always comes at the expense of the children affected. “There is no tolerance for this. We must protect children from being exploited by fake fathers.”
Justice Minister Buschmann stressed: “We have now found a solution to stop the scam of false fathers.” A new procedure will ensure “that abusive recognitions are effectively discovered and thwarted.”
Hundreds of cases – high number of unreported cases
According to the Ministries of Justice and the Interior, the immigration authorities processed 1,769 possible cases of abuse between January 2018 and December 2021. Around 290 of these were assessed as abusive recognition of paternity. A further 1,800 cases were examined in German diplomatic missions abroad. Overall, both ministries assume that there is a high number of unreported cases of fictitious paternity.
The recognition process can already be suspended if there are concrete indications of abuse. However, such cases are often not recognized in time, the ministries said. At present, the bodies that certify paternity recognition, i.e. youth welfare offices or notaries, are primarily responsible for recognizing abuse.
However, it is difficult for them to find out information relevant to abuse. This is why cases of abuse are often only recognized too late, said the minister. Subsequent correction of a recognized paternity is then no longer possible.
In future, the registry office will decide whether there is a possible case for review by the immigration authorities. This would automatically be the case if the father and mother have different residence statuses – for example, in one case they have German citizenship and in the other only a tourist visa.