English Translation

18a All German nationals who, without being notified to a national reporting authority during this period, have been staying abroad for more than 3 months and return to Germany for a permanent or longer stay. The existence of more than 3 monthly stays abroad is to be assumed for all persons who do not submit a registration certificate to a national reporting authority which is less than 3 months old from the date of registration, unless it appears that a stay in the country is not available. For the subsequent delivery of the cancellation confirmation, the notified party may be granted a period of 4 weeks by the reporting police authority. Subsequent delivery of the registration note shall not be permitted if, on request from the reporting police, the national reporting authority, in whose area the notified party was reported abroad, confirms that it has stayed abroad for less than 3 months. In the case of persons who do not report as coming from abroad but cannot provide a domestic registration certificate from the last 3 months, or for whom, on request by the police, it is not possible to determine where they have stayed or who have stayed in the country for less than 3 months. The State Police shall, by appropriate investigations, determine whether the person concerned is a returner who wishes to conceal his stay abroad or whether he is unable or unwilling to provide a national registration certificate. If in the last case there is a suspicion that he wants to hide his former domestic stay in order to avoid prosecution, the procedure must be submitted to the criminal police. Persons who are reported according to SS 15 - 19 of the Reichsmeldungsordnung in inns, homes etc., for obviously only temporary stay, 66984 are not treated as returnees.