Dual citizenship for Germans possible?

Question

I'm a German citizen but live in the U.S. on a green card at the moment. If I became naturalized in the U.S. (a citizen here), would I have to give up my German passport and citizenship?

Answer 1

The choice is yours, Germany can not & will not ever revoke your German citizenship.

Answer 2

No, you can keep your documents. But in order for this to happen you need to apply for a "Beibehaltungsgenehmigung" from the Germans before you apply for U.S. citizenship. The German government will only allow you to keep your German citizenship if you got a very good reason. For example, if you are a professor at a US college and needed to become a US citizen in order to have access to US-government research grants. In this case the Germans might allow you to keep your German citizenship as long as you could convince them that you are serious about your continuing ties to Germany.

Short: The US government doesn't care about double citizenship, but the Germans do.

You can ask more questions about "Beibehaltungsgenehmigung" at http://www.info4alien.de It is a meeting point for German experts on immigration and visa to Germany and other related topics like German citizenship law. At the site you'll also be able to obtain a current and accurate copy of German citizenship code.

Answer 3

Alwin this time you are wrong.

There are two sides right you have to look on the US - side, sorry ask in the US. From the German side it is so. There is a possibility to keep the German citizenship. You must ask for a "Beibehaltungsgenehmigung" before you ask for US-citizenship.

(Es ist wichtig, die Beibehaltuingsgenehmigung muß erteilt sein, bevor Du den Antrag auf Erteilung der US- Staatsbürgerschaft unterschreibst.) In that moment you ask for US-citizenship without Beibehaltungsgenehmigung, then you are not a German you were a German. You also have lost German citizenship, when US is refusing to give you US citizenship.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

Heinz

Answer 4

Defintely no,as to the giving up. Definitely yes, as to dual citizenship. If you're a German by law or by birth (ancestors), you can stay a German ALWAYS, even if you adopt US citizenship. There's an option for that between the US and Germany since i-don't-know-when. Only if your German passport expires, you have to renew it personally in Germany (or maybe even the embassy can do that for you without you having to fly over here). You can't lose German citizenship once you've been born a German, unless you volontarily decide to do so.

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Heinz, you are partly right, and I am partly wrong, let's agree on that, will we? I thought of the "Beibehaltungsgenehmigung" to be just a formality which every born German would undergo before applying for another citizenship. Why give up one, when you can have two? And I know at least two Germans who emigrated to the US and have both citizenships now that they're naturalized USians. I didn't ask them about the bureaucratic procedures they had to undergo, however, so that was some lack of information on my part, or maybe I didn't make myself clear enough. But the possibility remains, and the cleareast answer I can give is still: YES, it is possible.

You are clearly wrong, however, when you say you can lose German citizenship if another state refuses you naturalization. The German Grundgesetz (constitution) clearly says that no German, under which circumstances whatsoever, may become stateless. He will be granted German citizenship again as soon as he asks for it at any German embassy in the world. (Ironically, this part of the constitution was originally meant to allow the German state to prosecute former n***s trying to escape German legislation after the war, but it's still in effect nowadays.)

Answer 5

Yes, you will have to give up your German documents. Because you will be applying to become a naturalized citizen of the US, you are renouncing all other citizenship. Germany will recognize this as legal and you will lose your german citizenship. There are only a few countries in the world that allow you to become a naturalized citizen of another country. These countries view citizenship as something for life. Germany is not one of these countries. You may only retain dual citizenship between the US and Germany is if each of your parents are citizens of both countries. In this instance both parents must be citizens of the countries AFTER a child born. If the German parent decides to renounce their german citizenship after the birth of the child. The child still posses the right to obtain and hold dual citizenship as long as this is done before the child reaches 18 years or age (applies only to children born after 1976) An exception is made in both countries for children by birth.  for niether parent being a citizen of the US, is that the child is born on US soil. Where upon the child would obtain US citizenship and receive their german citizenship from their parents. In Germany, if a child is born to parent who have lived in germany for five consecutive years, the child is consider a german citizen and can petion for citizenship before they reach the age of 18 (applies only to children born after 1991).

Answer 6

The ONLY correct answer to your question was already given by "PINATA" and MINE, I am also a dual - citizen of Germany and the USA and received mine in 2002. When I applied, I didn't realiz I would lose the German and asked someone for help on the internet, she explained everything about the "Beibehaltung der deutschen Staatsbuergerschaft" and with all the Forms I had to send to the German Konsulat. Once approved or disapproved, you have to send the Government in Koeln 255 Euro (Paragraph 38) and with that receipt, you can pick up your Beibehaltungsdokument at your nearest German konsulat in the USA. I did it this way in Miami, FL. They will have to hand out your Beibehaltungsdokument before you are naturalized and also, this Dokument is only valid for 2 years, which means, if you are not getting it within the 2 years of application, you have to reapply. It took for me about 5 months, I applied in February and picked up the Dokument in July which was already waiting there for me a couple of months.

You will LOSE your German citizenship if you do not apply for the "Beibehaltungsgenehmigung" before becoming naturalized by another country, in this case, in the USA.

You will have to give Germany a reason why you want to apply for the US citizenship and you will always have to show your Dokument when you get a new passport to the Konsulat. I just got my new passport and they asked for it.

Here a few links:

http://www.roundtable-usa.com/archive/in...

http://www.germany.info/relaunch/info/co...

http://www.bezreg-duesseldorf.nrw.de/Bez...

http://www.einbuergerung.de/gesetz.pdf

Here is the form you would need to fill out:

http://www.germany.info/relaunch/info/co...

Any other questions, I am here to answer.

People with the THUMBS DOWN, please inform yourself first before you thumb down because obviously all of you have no clue about the German law and for me you people are very UNEDUCATED.