Based on US and German law, you can have citizenship of both countries. Dual German/US citizenship can happen only when the child is born to one American and one German parent. If an American citizen applies for naturalization in Germany, the American will have to give up their US citizenship to obtain the German one.
How do I claim my German citizenship?
You can apply to reclaim your German citizenship by proving your heritage and by satisfying eligibility criteria set by the German government. Your application form needs to be accompanied by your ancestral and personal documents, translated into German.
Can I get a German passport through ancestry?
If you do have family ties, then you may be eligible to apply for German citizenship by descent. This means that if one of your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents was a German citizen, then you may also be one!
Can a German citizen have dual citizenship?
In certain cases, German nationality law allows its citizens to have or acquire an additional citizenship. As a rule, children born to a German and a non-German parent, or to parents with dual nationality, acquire the nationalities of both parents at birth, according to the principle of descent.
Can a German citizen hold dual citizenship?
A child born to an American parent and a German parent acquires both American and German citizenship at birth, regardless of place of birth. While Germany recognizes the concept of dual nationality, for most purposes it considers a dual national in Germany a German citizen only.
Does German citizenship expire?
If you willingly apply for a foreign citizenship and obtain it, your German citizenship is automatically lost. If you obtain a foreign citizenship without an application for naturalization, you remain a German citizen.
How does one become a citizen of Germany?
In general, German citizenship is not established through birth on German territory but by descent from a German legal mother and/or a German legal father.
Can you be a dual citizen of the US and Germany?
/ By. Being a dual citizen of both the United States and Germany is possible. Both countries permit this, even though the German law recognizes dual nationality only when the person was born with both, for example a child born to an American mother and a German father or viceversa.
Can a spouse of a German citizen naturalize in Germany?
Since Jan. 1, 1970 the acquisition of German citizenship by marriage does not exist anymore. A foreign spouse can only naturalize if certain requirements are met. Children born in Germany after Dec. 31, 1999 to foreign parents who were legal residents of Germany for at least eight years, acquire German citizenship too.
Can a child have US citizenship and German citizenship?
Dual German/US citizenship can happen only when the child is born to one American and one German parent. In this case, the child is not required to give up either nationality and can hold both. However, if the child lives in the US, they might have German citizenship, but cannot take advantage of German services.
