Stricter rules for recognizing paternity

A bill introduced by the federal government is intended to help prevent abusive paternity recognition more effectively in the future. The aim of the law is to curb cases in which paternity of a child is recognized without an actual family relationship in order to obtain residency benefits. According to the Federal Government, it occasionally happens that men with German citizenship or a secure residence status recognize the paternity of a foreign child in order to give the child German citizenship and thereby improve the mother's residence situation. The current legal regulations are not sufficient to effectively prevent such cases. In the future, the consent of the immigration authorities will therefore be required in certain cases. This is particularly true if there is a so-called difference in residence law between those involved, for example if the person recognizing the status is a German citizen, but the mother only has a toleration or residence permit. Without the necessary consent, the registry office should be able to refuse to register paternity. However, no additional consent should be necessary if the person acknowledging is demonstrably the biological father of the child or there is an actual social-family relationship with the child. In addition, false information to obtain official approval will be made a criminal offense in the future. The draft law had previously been changed in the Interior Committee. An approved amendment from the coalition factions also contains irrelevant regulations on the protection of critical infrastructure and IT security, which were also adopted. Parts of the federal government's bill were adopted in an amended version with 297 yes votes. 130 MPs voted against and there were 134 abstentions. Specifically, articles one to six, articles ten to twelve as well as the introduction and title of the bill were voted on.

Vote breakdown