How I Immigrated To Germany (And Ended Up in Constitutional Court)
Just an introductory word of warning. If you think this is a “how to” immigrate blog post that is in any way “normal” — think again. This is a still unfolding story of how one plucky gal (me) decided to not take “no” for an answer, move here, stay here (as in immigrate) and set a few injustices right along the way. While this is still an unfolding story — here is the German Supreme Court Case decision as of last week (which also changes immigration law here by precedent) — there has been a major goal now achieved (after only 7 years of trying). So if you have had trouble immigrating to Germany, keep reading. Otherwise, keep filling out that paperwork.
There are many people who want to visit Germany. There are also alot who want to come here to live. That includes of course descendants of Jews who fled Nazi (if not other types of) persecution (my case) — and anyone with a German relative who has told cool stories about one of the most intriguing countries in the world.
More than 15% of Americans also have some kind of Germanic heritage. There are a lot of people who have a fascination with this (admittedly) fascinating country. There are far fewer who ever make it (even on vacation if not to live).
However just picking up and moving to a new country is never an easy thing to do. And there is a backstory to my situation — namely that I had tried to move here for decades and a few obstacles got in the way — like my own human trafficking and the destruction of my father. But that is another story.
I began trying to attain German citizenship on my own in 1995. That was the year that my mother gave me the packet of proof he had saved and she had stolen from my father on the way out the door in England in 1980 where we all lived during the 1970’s. She did this to block him from bringing us back here circa the time, and presumably for the rest of his (if not my life). It is clear that he also ran into problems at the time. If he had been granted inalienable rights that certainly would have prevented what happened next. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He tried, and for a long time. But at the time, this kind of case was unusual (international human trafficking) and also involved, of course, the theft of documents that would have made it easier to do. Not to mention prevailing legal prejudices that even in the case of maternal incest, somehow motivated judges to assume the “default” position — namely granting us even temporarily to my mother. And when she broke a high court decree that there was (at minimum) equal visitation if not a revisiting of the entire discussion, there was also no legal action taken (as in we were taken away from her and immediately).
Even more shockingly, the obvious abuse of two minors was also covered up in the U.S. Having an uncle and aunt getting rich from the proceeds of the entire affair was bad enough. That my uncle was also one of the top law enforcement officers in the state where we were taken was even worse.
End result? I lost my dad. I lost British residence rights, and almost my life. Several times.
For a long time after I left home in the U.S., I was told by German officials at every embassy I visited on the East Coast of the U.S. (Washington DC, New York and Atlanta), that ooops, I just did not qualify on my own. The reason? My father had clearly been disenfranchised by the Nazis, but he had not been married to my mother. Therefore, even though it is German law (and has been since 1993) that there can be no state discrimination attached to being born to unmarried parents, this was still being applied to immigration cases. And of course there was the hanging question — why didn’t he apply? I tried to explain the situation, but it fell on deaf ears.
By 2003, and still unsuccessfully unreunited with my now aging (and 83 year old father), I was working in New York for a major bank and finally found my older half brother — a doctor in the UK. I negotiated a meeting with him, first in New York and at my lawyer’s office, and then, or so I thought, a gradual introduction back into British, European and certainly my father’s life. I began visiting the UK in 2003 to try to find him and bring him back to Germany.
Tragically, this never happened. Too many people caught up in the original kidnapping never wanted things to revert to the way things used to be. Not to mention it meant that they could be implicated in a major international crime. My brothers (on both sides of the Atlantic), plus others historically associated in this, kept my father in poverty and isolation while repeatedly attacking me including physically in the United States and every time I visited the UK. My father was however sent multiple times from the UK to the Philippines where he was deliberately infected and reinfected with a zoonotic virus that ended up eating off his toes and killing him. I was also accused of being “mentally ill” — namely schizophrenic - by family members who repeatedly tried to have me locked up in a mental institution for life, and when that failed, left homeless or for dead.
I survived. And after I managed to make it to my father’s funeral, began to gather evidence to not only survive, but flee, and hopefully indict the perps.
I landed in Germany on June 1, 2013 at Frankfurt airport. When I got here, I immediately traveled to Dortmund, a small town in the northwest of the country, because I knew I needed to learn German. While in Dortmund, I also found an attorney to represent my case.
I had applied for citizenship just before I left the U.S. Before the end of the summer in 2013, now in Germany, I was told that yet again, my application had been turned down. And for the same reasons. The American Embassy in both Berlin and Frankfurt so far, have been appallingly unhelpful — especially in believing me about the human trafficking and the murder of my father.
However, the tide was already turning here domestically. There were beginning to be Syrian refugees in my language classes, and I realized that with a Chancellor like Angela Merkel, I might, at this stage of Germany’s history if not evolvement on many issues around discrimination, have a chance of making this go to court, and winning. The refusals did not make sense. Indeed, as the German Constitutional Court just ruled, the combination of case law so far on 116 right of return has been jumbled and confused for a long time — before there were “descendants” and when it was actual refugees themselves who wanted to return.
Since 2015, my case worked its way through progressively higher courts. In the meantime, I went to graduate school and obtained my EMBA. And made a living — more or less- by being a completely freelance, online writer, with assignments from (primarily) the U.S. I began to cover the cannabis industry (which I still do).
By 2017, however, and the time I graduated, Auslander Behorde was growing increasingly frustrated with my case. What they should have done of course is issue me a residence visa. But because my landlord “did not understand the new housing law” I could not get the requisite slip of paper permission from him. The wrangling between me and the Frankfurt immigration office continued to be dire.
By fall 2019, I knew we were entering the last phase. The German Interior Ministry had changed some of the requirements of 116, but still required that people had to be outside the country to apply, and had not cleared up either the “illigitimacy” issue or the various and confusing issues of whether parents should be considered as having equal rights to bestow nationality rights on their children. The German Supreme Court accepted cert (as they say in the United States). All I had to do now was hold my breath and wait.
But things have not been “easy” so far, and this was not the last hurdle. Auslander Behorde in Frankfurt at this point was making major noises that this was the “last ditch” effort I had to prove, separate from the pending constitutional court case, that I had the right if not the income and savings to get a residence permit. Note, under German law, it should be fairly easy for Americans to obtain a special waiver for all conditions to get residency. Certainly not the case when it came to my situation. On top of that, with proven foreign income, an EMBA and B1 German language proficiency, I had all the prerequisites to meet a host of standards. I had even started two high tech startups. But according to the Immigration Department, these were just not the prequisites needed, apparently, at least to the workers in the actual bureau in Frankfurt.
By early February 2020, I got terrible news from the Immigration Department locally in Frankfurt. I was being rejected completely for any kind of residency and would have to leave the country immediately. Less than a month later (but after I retained another lawyer, this time to keep me in the country), I also got what I assume is the standard asylum rejection notice in the mail. However, luckily, the immigration attorney in Frankfurt managed to file a complaint in time to stave off my imminent departure. Within two months, he was also able to report that at least part of this second complaint had passed muster and I was supposed to have, at least, temporary residence restored.
I made the trip down to Auslander Behorde in mid May, as soon as the offices began to open up again, post COVID. I had to pay for another temporary, 90 day visa, and this time, the Immigration office took my passport (although I have a receipt for the same, and will be getting it back).
One month later, I heard from my pro bono attorney. The Supreme Court of Germany had just ruled on my case — and affirmed the constitutional complaint was a valid one.
I am still adjusting. Especially as the story itself about the decision went global. Reuters and AP both picked it up. The story was in news all over the world.
That was last week, but you might have seen the story.
Now, we are waiting for the case to be referred back to the 2nd Administrative Court, and all the legal steps that we have to go through to finish this.
There is still legal eagling in my future, and even connected to this particular piece of it.
But so far, it has been an adventure, and one that I almost feel destined I would take.
I might have failed to bring my dad home (and he would have been so proud), but I made it. And in the process, ended another kind of German discrimination that most people thought was long over anyway.
As an ending note — most of you won’t have to go through this of course, but immigration is not a casual affair. Be prepared for the adventure of a lifetime. Not to mention learning to love (or at least tolerate) paperwork!
