Fatherhood

You are in love with a Filipina, your baby is born, but you are not married yet? What can you, what should you do?

Every child where one of the parents is German, is German as well according to the German law and is entitled to a German Passport. This means the child can leave the Philippines easily and will not have any problems entering Germany. This means furthermore that the mother of the child based on the law of family reunion is entitled to receive a visa for the family reunion, and in Germany to get a residence permit from the respective Alien Office. The parents need not to be married, and there is no marriage required. See §23 Ausl.G: "ist ein Elternteil eines deutschen Minderjährigen ausländischer Staatsbürger , so ist dem ausländischen Elternteil eine Aufenthaltsberechtigung ( in der Regel für mind. 3 Jahre ) zu erteilen." (Translated: does one of the parents of a child own a foreign citizenship, this person has the right to receive a residence permit for at least 3 years.)

The easiest was is to be present at the time of the birth in the Philippines and register the baby properly with the names of both parents. This birth certificate should be presented to the German Embassy within 3 weeks after the birth. Then the child will be registered as German and will receive a German Passport. .

A later registration is possible as well, but is a lot more complicated. First the fatherhood has to be registered at the local marriage office in Germany with a corresponding affidavit, using the original birth certificate of the child from the NSO in the Philippines. The resulting document will be forwarded to the central registration office on Berlin 1, This office will forward this document to the German Embassy in the Philippines, which will contact the mother and ask for the approval and acknowledgment of the fatherhood of the German father. This agreement will then be returnd to the registration office in Berlin 1.

Subsequently or in parallel the fatherhood has to be registered properly in the Philippines as well. The fathjer has to make a corresponding affidavit, which will be registered in the NSO. Consequently the child will get a new birth certificate with both parents registered.

Everything clear? But, there is a slight problem: The German Embassy often believes that this fatherhood acknowledgement is just a trick to find an easy way for the baby and the mother to get a visa for Germany, and rejects the German passport. This decision is against the law, and in such a case you need to complain to the German Embassy. Furthermore it is not required to prove the fatherhood via any blood or DNA tests, The official affidavit is all which is required.