THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
When The African Courier reported in January 2026 on Germany’s proposed overhaul of its paternity recognition rules, the draft law was still working its way through parliament and advocacy groups were watching closely. On 12 June 2026, the waiting ended. The Bundestag passed the legislation with the governing coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD voting in favour, the Greens and the Left voting against, and the AfD abstaining.
Under existing law, if a man with German citizenship or permanent residency officially recognised a child as his own, that recognition could automatically improve the legal status of the child’s mother — and in some cases enable her family members to join them in Germany.
Some fraudsters exploited this loophole for profit. Authorities in Dortmund brought the issue to national attention after uncovering a series of cases in which men were allegedly paid to claim paternity of children they had no biological connection to. The city suspended the issuing of paternity certificates while it investigated, with the mayor confirming at least 30 cases of suspected fraudulent recognitions.
What the law does
As we reported in January, the reform targets so-called Scheinvaterschaft — sham paternity — where a man with German citizenship or permanent residency formally acknowledges a child he has no genuine connection to, enabling the child’s mother to obtain residency rights and social benefits through the backdoor.
Under the new rules, when a significant gap in residency status exists between the parents — for instance, a German citizen acknowledging the child of a woman who is an asylum-seeker or only tolerated (geduldet) — immigration authorities must now approve the recognition before it takes legal effect. If that approval is withheld, the registry office must refuse to register the man as the father.
Making false statements to obtain approval is now a criminal offence, and approvals obtained through deception or bribery can be retroactively revoked.
What has not changed: the exemptions
Crucially, the safeguards we highlighted in January remain in place. Verified biological fathers are exempt from the new approval requirement. Men who can demonstrate a genuine, active relationship with their child — through shared residence, documented involvement in the child’s life, or existing family ties — are also exempt.
The SPD pushed successfully during parliamentary negotiations to ensure that people on Beschäftigungsduldung — a temporary toleration status linked to employment — are not automatically swept into the mandatory review process.
The concerns that were raised — and were not resolved
The warnings our January report carried have proven well-founded. Critics in parliament, led by the Greens and the Left, argued forcefully that the law creates a two-tier family law — one for German couples and another for binational ones. Their figures were stark: roughly 73 confirmed abuse cases are recorded annually in Germany, yet the new regime could generate up to 65,000 additional review procedures each year. That is a significant administrative burden falling disproportionately on migrant families.
SPD MP Carmen Wegge acknowledged the tension directly, saying the law must be applied precisely and proportionately, and that genuine families must not be dragged into lengthy procedures simply because their circumstances superficially match a profile of suspicion.
What this means in practice
For African families in Germany — particularly those in binational relationships where one partner holds only temporary status — the new law introduces a layer of scrutiny that did not previously exist. Being asked to demonstrate the reality of a family relationship to an immigration authority is, for many, a deeply uncomfortable inversion of normal family law principles, which have historically been a matter for civil registry offices, not migration officials.
The law will take effect in stages. Most provisions apply after twelve months. Families in affected situations are strongly advised to seek legal advice early and to document the reality of their family life — shared residence records, photographs, school or medical documents naming both parents — as a precautionary measure.
Germany has passed the law. Whether it is applied with the precision and proportionality its own supporters promised remains to be seen.
Vivian Asamoah
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