The return to Germany
Over past five years, increasing number of Israelis have been requesting German passports
However, Israelis’ view of Germany has changed fundamentally in recent years, and the drizzle of Israelis seeking German passports has become a real flood.
Data received from the German Embassy in Israel shows that since 2003 there has been a rise in the number of Israelis requesting a German passport.
A total of close to 30,000 people of German descent turned to the German Embassy and most of them received their requested passport after only two weeks.
While the number of Israelis requesting German citizenship is on the rise, the amount of Israelis submitting their requests at the German Embassy in Israel has declined.
Overall, 11,168 have requested naturalization over the past five years. It should be noted that the German Embassy only denies one or two percent of the requests.
Almost all of the passport appeals are submitted by people with a German background who in most cases lost their German citizenship due to Nazi laws. Such applicants have a much harder time attaining a passport since numerous amounts of documentation proving their right to citizenship must be presented.
After Israeli citizens passes the naturalization process, they are automatically eligible to submit a request for a German passport. In the future, their children and their children’s children will become German citizens as well.
Attorney Dan Assan who assists Israelis in receiving German citizenship said that the number of people requesting German passports is rising due to their belief that it serves as an “insurance policy,” a well-known phenomenon after a crisis such as the Second Lebanon War.
However, Assan said that most applicants want a German passport also because of the benefits given to European Union residents.
In addition the lawyer said that the entitlement for German citizenship is “not according to birthplace but rather according to citizenship. For this reason, not all German-born Israelis are eligible.
There are some German Israelis whose parents immigrated to Germany from Eastern Europe because of economic reasons and were not granted citizenship, and this is why they are not eligible.”
