Germans abroad

Adult Germans permanently living abroad who are not disqualified from voting are entitled to go to the polls if,

1. after reaching the age of 14 (which means from their 14^th birthday), they were either resident in the Federal Republic of Germany for an uninterrupted period of at least three months and this stay dates back not more than 25 years

or,

2. for other reasons, they have become familiar, personally and directly, with the political situation in the Federal Republic of Germany and are affected by it.

You must have become “familiar” personally “with the political situation” in the Federal Republic of Germany directly and because of what you have experienced. Passively participating in communication, for instance by consuming German-language media abroad, does not suffice.

Your being “affected by the political situation” may result from the fact that you are currently subject to German sovereignty, but it is not restricted to that.

Examples in support of an eligibility (in German only)

This decision is taken by the municipality in charge. An objection to this decision may be lodged in writing with the municipal authority or it may be dictated. A complaint about the decision then taken may be lodged with the constituency returning officer.

You may download the application form here (please fill in on your PC):

Application for entry in the voters’ register for Germans living abroad

It contains an information leaflet with instructions for completing the form.

Printed application forms will be available from the diplomatic and full-time consular missions of the Federal Republic of Germany abroad, from the constituency returning officers in the Federal Republic of Germany and from the

Bundeswahlleiter (Federal Returning Officer)
Statistisches Bundesamt
Zweigstelle Bonn
Postfach 17 03 77
53029 Bonn
Germany

and can be ordered from the Office of the Federal Returning Officer using the contact form.

For Germans without a place of residence in the Federal Republic of Germany, the municipality in charge is the one they were last registered with before moving abroad.

For German expatriates who have never lived in Germany for at least three months it is the municipality they are most closely connected with, according to their statement, when it comes to being familiar with and affected by the political situation. Usually, their connection is closest with the place to which their “being affected by the political situation in the Federal Republic of Germany” relates. If, for instance, somebody works as a cross-border worker in the domestic territory, that location could be regarded as a connection when it comes to exercising the right to vote. For locally employed staff of German missions abroad the connection would generally be the Federal Foreign Office and thus a municipal office in Berlin (‘Bezirksamt Mitte’, constituency no 75). In cases where such a place cannot be identified, the last home municipality of the person’s direct ancestors in today’s territory of the Federal Republic of Germany should be considered, if there are more than one, the municipality where they were last registered before leaving Germany.

Please refer to the website of your municipality for the current address of the municipal authority in charge.

The application for entry into the voters’ register must have been received by the municipality in charge on the 21^st day before election at the latest. This period cannot be extended.

Usually, the municipalities do not confirm receipt of the application by post. Your application for entry into the voters’ register also is an application for a polling card to be issued. You will automatically receive the postal ballot documents together with the polling card.

Because of long mail delivery times in the host country, the following German missions offer courier service for

1. applications for entry in the voters’ register to be sent from abroad to Germany and/or
2. postal allot documents to be sent by the election offices in Germany to the German missions abroad and/or
3. postal ballot letters to be sent back from abroad to the election offices in Germany.

When you use the official courier service, the Federal Foreign Office will not assume liability for any loss, damage or delayed delivery of electoral documents. The letters cannot be tracked. You may have to sign a disclaimer.

Applications for entry in the voters’ register are available several months before Bundestag election. Applicants can therefore make sure that their applications are received in time by the competent municipal authorities in Germany even though mail delivery times may be long in the host country. For that reason, only few German missions abroad (see column a of the above list) offer to send these applications by courier in exceptional cases. The letters have to be addressed to the respective German municipal authority and have sufficient postage on it (20g, € 0.70). We would recommend that you contact the respective German mission beforehand.

The German missions abroad in column b above offer courier service for postal ballot documents to be sent from the electoral offices in Germany to foreign countries, provided that you have contacted the competent German mission beforehand and arranged for the documents to be sent that way.

In that case, the procedure is as follows:

The electoral documents have to be contained in a separate envelope which has been sealed and clearly marked as containing such documents (“Wahlsache”) and bears the name(s) of the person(s) entitled to vote. The electoral office in Germany has to insert that envelope into another one, with sufficient postage for Germany, and send it to the following address:

Federal Foreign Office
for Embassy/Consulate-General /Consulate (location)
Kurstraße 36
10117 Berlin
Germany.

Please make sure that you point that out to your electoral office.

The Federal Foreign Office will pass the letter on by official courier service to the respective German mission abroad. There you will have to collect the documents personally. The German missions in the respective countries will not send them to the persons entitled to vote. We would recommend that you contact the respective German mission in time to find out how long it takes for letters to be delivered via the official courier service, about their being retained for you and handed over to you.

In countries with a slow or unreliable postal system it may in exceptional cases be necessary to use the courier service for sending postal ballot letters back to ensure that they are received in time by the electoral offices (by 6 p.m. on election day). To make sure that the postal ballot letters which have been sent by courier can be passed on in time, they have to be received by the Courier Service of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin by Monday, 18 September 2017 at the latest. We would therefore recommend that you contact the respective German mission abroad (see column c of the list above) to find out by when the postal ballot letters have to be received there.

A ballot-box poll at the German missions would involve disproportionate effort for the missions and especially for German expatriates who are entitled to vote. For most of them it is much easier to cast their votes by postal ballot than at embassies or consulates as they might have to travel long distances to get to these German missions.

In addition, polling would have to end earlier than in Germany or delays be accepted when the provisional election result is established.

This is the only way to ensure that current addresses are available for the mailing of postal voting documents. Such documents could only be posted automatically without prior application if the correct foreign addresses of those entitled to vote were known to the German authorities in charge before each election.

German expatriates are not obliged to inform the German authorities about residential moves, births of children, or deaths. Consequently, the population register data are not reliable. Part of the postal ballot documents sent by post may not be received by the addressees when addresses have changed or they may even fall into the wrong hands.

You may register with the Federal Foreign Office to be on a ‘List of Germans’ and provide an e-mail address.

http://www.konsularinfo.diplo.de/__Zentrale_20Komponenten/Ganze-Seiten/__Positivliste-Mitnehmen/de/Krisenvorsorgeliste/-Krisenvorsorgeliste.html?site=361719

Alternatively, you may leave your address abroad with the registration authority of the municipality where your last main residence was.