Desis in Deutschland / 'Foreigner Policy' and Applied Law in Germany

3.5. Phase V: litigation III (1987)

Finally, in 1987 the BVerwG decided that the interests of the state against the naturalisation of Dr. Agarwal, the existence of which were not rejected, were not considerable given the details of the case and thus according to the law were not sufficient to prevent the naturalisation. The court held that the specific case had to be considered, that it was not valid to link the question of naturalisation with that of repayment as little as it was justified to link it with the rights of German students or other unrelated matters. It was clearly stated that the administration could only decide within the limits of the law and that this meant in the case of Dr. Agarwal the obligation to give him the German citizenship. The judgement, however, focused so much on the specific details of the case, in particular on the consolidation of his life and family in Germany, that the rights to naturalisation of other former students and the need for the administration to generally take a different approach was not discussed. Accordingly, while the judgement illustrated the importance of court decisions in interfering with administrative practice, it also showed the unwillingness to do this too sharply.

"I fear thus that other recipients of sholarships who are interested in naturalisation will not be able to deduct much general aspects from the judgement." (from a letter by Dr. Herzog to Dr. Agarwal, dated 19.05.1987/ own translation)

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Description of Case
• 3. Arguments and Methods
• 3.1. Phase I: application and delay (1970)
• 3.2. Phase II: repetition and intimidation (1972-76)
• 3.3. Phase III: litigation I (1976-79)
• 3.4. Phase IV: litigation II (1983-84)
• 3.5. Phase V: litigation III (1987)
• 4. Features of the Case
• 4.1. Introduction
• 4.2. Development politics
• 4.3. State interests vs. personal interests
• 4.4. Power and justices
• 4.5. The underlying issue: Foreigner policy
• Table of statutes, table of cases, abbreviations

Compare:

• Citizenship and identity among second generation South Asians in Western European Countries (als pdf)
• "Person of Indian Origin" (als pdf), in: Südasien, 4/04, 2004, 73-74.
• People of Indian Origin in Germany
• English Homepage of urmila.de

Siehe auch:

• Einbürgerung und Entwicklungspolitik
• aus "Ausgrenzung und Zugehörigkeit - Zur Rolle von Staatsbürgerschaft und Einbürgerung", in: Christiane Brosius und Urmila Goel (2006, Hrsg.), masala.de - Menschen aus Südasien in Deutschland, Heidelberg: Draupadi-Verlag, 2006, 123-160.
• Überblick zu rechtlichen Fragen
• Überblick zu Fragen der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit
• Überlegungen zu Rassismuserfahrungen