The structural and electronic properties of rare-earth RE Eu, Er, and Tm related defect pairs in GaN have been investigated theoretically. Based on LDA+ U total-energy calculations, their possible role in the lumines-cence process is discussed. In all charge states, the lanthanides show a strong preference for the Ga-lattice site, either as isolated substitutional or complexed with intrinsic defects. With respect to the electronic valence, a proper description of correlation effects of the strongly localized 4f electrons is shown to be crucial, especially if the RE Ga is paired with donors like the Ga interstitial or the N vacancy. The pairs formed by RE Ga substitutionals and vacancies or interstitials lower the symmetry and are found to locally distort the environ-ment. By this, they are quite effective in relaxing the selection rules for the luminescent intra-4f-shell transi-tions. While for n-type GaN, the next-nearest-neighbor pair RE Ga V Ga pair is energetically favored, for p-type GaN, the RE Ga V N pair provides the most stable configuration and introduces shallow levels close to the conduction band, which can act as assistant levels in the luminescence process.