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.
Does Germany allow multiple 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 I have a German and US passport?
Both the United States and Germany recognize the concept of multiple nationality. A child born to an American parent and a German parent acquires both American and German citizenship at birth, regardless of place of birth. And they must have a valid U.S. passport in order to enter the United States.
Can I become a German citizen?
To be eligible for naturalization, a person has to have lived legally in Germany for at least eight years and possess the appropriate residence permit. Foreigners who have successfully completed an integration course are eligible for naturalization after seven years.
Can a person with German citizenship claim US citizenship?
As most immigrants from Germany were affected by this automatic loss of German citizenship, it is usually not possible to base a claim to German citizenship on ancestors who immigrated to the United States before 1904.
Do you have to be a German citizen to live in Germany?
When you live in Germany as a permanent resident, you do not qualify as a citizen of Germany. This puts some restrictions on your status, and that is why so many permanent residents of Germany seek German citizenship. Having German citizenship gives you rights and freedoms that non-citizens do not have.
Do you have to be born in Germany to have dual citizenship?
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.
When did you Lose Your citizenship in Germany?
The German Citizenship Act in the version of 1871-1914 stipulated that a German automatically lost his/her citizenship by residing outside of Germany for more than 10 years.
