Fake Father Scams: Germany Introduces Bill To Prevent Fraudulent Acquisition Of Residence Permits

The Federal Cabinet approved the agreement presented by Nancy Faeser, Federal Minister of the Interior, along with Dr. Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice. Both the ministers submitted a bill to prevent abusive paternity recognition. This bill sends a clear signal against recognition of paternity, which is used for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit in an abusive manner. This new procedure will help in preventing false paternity claims by using follow-up checks.

According to the draft law, whenever paternity recognition could make a new residency right and the child is not the biological child of the person recognising them, the paternity recognition for it to be valid must be approved by the immigration authorities. The quick check of validity ensures that nonabusive paternity recognition is not delayed. If it is found that the consent from immigration authorities was obtained through bribery threats or false information, the authority can immediately withdraw their consent, making the paternity recognition invalid from the start. Paternity recognition abuse will be punishable by a fine or 3 years in prison.

What Do the Federal Ministers Have to Say About This New Bill?

Federal Minister of Interior Nancy Faeser said, “We are putting a clear stop to deception and abuse of the law in order to obtain a right of residence in Germany. Fake paternity is always to the detriment of the children affected—there is no tolerance for this. We must protect children from being misled. Fathers are exploited. The child’s well-being is of utmost importance to us. In addition, the new regulations prevent rights from being obtained through abusive recognition of paternity. At the same time, we want to ensure that such abuse of rights is uncovered and clearly sanctioned. We will stop the resulting abusive receipt of social benefits. At the same time, we will ensure that the biological and social paternity process is not unnecessarily delayed.”

Federal Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschhmann said, “Abusive recognition of paternity is a real problem. Its solution has repeatedly failed in the past. We have now found a solution to stop the fraud of false fathers. With a new procedure, we will ensure that abusive recognition is effective. Such a solution is also urgently needed. The trick with false recognition has cost our welfare state a lot of money every year. For too long, paternity has been recognised solely to circumvent immigration law to provide a right of residence for those who are not entitled to it. Our draft law was developed in close cooperation with the immigration authorities and registry offices. It also ensures that the numerous legitimate recognitions of paternity are not blocked or delayed. We also tackle the difficult problems—without ideological blinders and with a focus on what works in practice.”

How Will the Rules of Paternity Change?

If a German man claims to be the father of the child, then the child is eligible for German citizenship, and the child’s mother and siblings can also obtain residency and social benefits in Germany. The objective of this new law is to stop people from falsely claiming a child is theirs, which is sometimes due to money. If this new bill is passed, it will be difficult for the German citizens or the people who secure German residency as the parents of a child whose other parent has a less secure residency.

For refugees and migrants, this new bill means 3 major things:

1) If the man is able to prove that he is the biological parent of the child, there will be no fraud check.

2) In the future, paternity recognition must be approved by the immigration office when one parent has a less secure residency status.

3) If the man takes full responsibility for the child or if the man has lived with the child’s mother for over six months, the immigration office will assume the man is the child’s father.