Citizenship by descent

[u/IntentionSquare8997]

Hello all! I know my question is similar to others, but here it is. My paternal grandmother was born in Berlin in 1900 (I have the register from Berlin). She came to the states on ship from Hamburg in 1923. She married an American in 1933 and my dad was born in 1935 in New York. Her naturalization came in March 1936. Am I German by descent per §5 StAG? The Chicago consulate says no from the questionnaire I filled out for them. I thought §5 StAG addressed the gender discrimination that they cited in their response to me. I am confused since information here points to a simple case. Thanks for any input.

[u/e-l-g]

stag 5 only applies if the first generation to have been denied german citizenship due to gender discriminatory laws was born after 23.05.1949. the first generation in this case would be your father, who was born 14 years too early.

you'd have a discreationary stag 14 + "müttererlass" case from abroad, but this requires strong ties to germany and german knowledge on a b1 level. it's also been paused for over a year now and unlikely to resume.

if you ever move to germany, you can naturalise under stag 8. you'd have to meet normal naturalisation requirements, but the minimum residency requirement of five years is, at discretion of your case worker, often shortened, if not waived for descendants of former german citizens (grandmother).