A number of non-EU foreigners have wrongly not received child benefit in Germany for years.
The Federal Constitutional Court subsequently declared a provision that was in force from 2006 to 2020 to be unconstitutional and void.
This was announced on Wednesday in Karlsruhe.
(Az. 2 BvL 9/14 and others)
According to this, people who lived here for reasons of international law, humanitarian or political reasons were only entitled to child benefit after a stay of at least three years.
In addition, the entitlement was dependent on integration into the labor market - and this point was not justified according to the judges' decision.
It violates the principle of equality if foreigners with a right of residence for humanitarian reasons only receive child benefit if they are integrated into the labor market.
The regulation no longer applies since March 2020
In 2012, the Federal Constitutional Court had already overturned an identically worded regulation on child-raising and later parental allowance.
In 2020, the legislature then changed the regulation on child benefit.
The Karlsruhe proceedings had been pending since 2014.
At that time, the Lower Saxony finance court in Hanover initiated the review.
It dealt with several complaints from foreigners and referred the issue to the Constitutional Court.
According to the regulation at the time, foreigners who were not entitled to freedom of movement and who were allowed to be in the country for reasons of international law, humanitarian or political reasons were not normally entitled to child benefit.
An exception applied if they had lived in Germany for at least three years and were employed or on parental leave or were temporarily receiving unemployment benefit I.
A few years after the regulation was presented in Karlsruhe by the Lower Saxony court, however, it was changed with effect from March 2020.
Accordingly, in such cases, gainful employment is no longer relevant.