German men selling fatherhood to refugee women for cash

German officials say growing numbers of pregnant immigrant women are paying German men to pose as fathers so that they can qualify for residency.

German broadcaster RBB found up to 700 cases in Berlin alone. "There are many unreported cases," said Ole Schröder, a top interior ministry official.

The pregnant immigrant women are reported to have paid fake fathers and solicitors as much as €5,000 to get paternity registered and once that is done, the baby automatically becomes a German citizen and the mother has the right to stay. There has been a rise in asylum requests from pregnant women from Vietnam, Africa and Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, the mainly unemployed men pay nothing to the women for the care of the children, with the state instead being responsible for welfare payments.

“The estimated number of unknown cases is high,” said Ole Schröder, undersecretary in the Interior Ministry.

Martin Steltner, a state prosecutor in Berlin, told ARD television there were signs of widespread abuse involving paternity, for example one man claiming to be the father of 10 children.

But the prosecutors currently have few legal options at their disposal to tackle the deceit, as no law is being broken. Current law states that whoever recognizes fatherhood of a child is the father, regardless of whether this is biologically true or not.

“For this reason, we don’t have the legally means to investigate these cases,” said Steltner.