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In depth
Optionspflicht (option obligation) was a German citizenship rule introduced in 2000, requiring children born in Germany to foreign parents (who acquired German citizenship by jus soli) to choose between German citizenship and their parents' citizenship by their 23rd birthday.
This rule created the 'option children' (Optionskinder) generation — children who had to renounce one citizenship. The rule was abolished in 2014 for children who grew up in Germany, but those who had already lost German citizenship under Optionspflicht can apply for reinstatement.
Optionspflicht is distinct from CBD — it applies to jus soli citizens, not jus sanguinis citizens. German citizens by descent (Abstammungsprinzip) never had Optionspflicht.
Related terms
StAG (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz) is the German Nationality Act, which includes §15 providing for naturalization of victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants.
Dual citizenship (also called multiple citizenship) is the status of being a citizen of two or more countries simultaneously, with the rights and obligations of each.
Article 116 of the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) restores German citizenship to those deprived of it by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, and to their descendants.
The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) is the German constitution, adopted in 1949, which includes Article 116 on citizenship restitution for Nazi-era persecutees.
The Reichsbürgergesetz (Reich Citizenship Law) of 1935 was the Nazi-era law that stripped German Jews of their citizenship, and whose victims are eligible for Article 116 restitution.
The BVA (Bundesverwaltungsamt, Federal Office of Administration) is the German authority in Cologne that processes Article 116 citizenship restitution applications.