German nationality law

German citizenship is based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis. In other words one usually acquires German citizenship if a parent is a German citizen, irrespective of place of birth.

A significant reform to the nationality law was passed by the Bundestag (the German parliament) in 1999, and came into force on 1 January 2000. The new law makes it somewhat easier for foreigners resident in Germany on a long-term basis, and especially their German-born children, to acquire German citizenship.

The previous German nationality law dated from 1913. The law was amended by the Nazi regime (see Nuremberg Laws), and these amendments were revoked by Allied occupational ordinance in 1945. Germany has ratified the European Convention on Nationality, which came into force in Germany on 1 September 2005. All German nationals are automatically also citizens of the European Union.

History

Before the formation of the German Empire in 1871, each German state had its own nationality laws, those of the southern ones (notably Bavaria) being quite liberal. Prussia's nationality law can be traced back to the "Law Respecting the Acquisition and Loss of the Quality as a Prussian subject, and his Admission to Foreign Citizenship" of 31 December 1842, which was based on the principle of jus sanguinis. Prussian law became the basis of the legal system of the German Empire, though the state nationality laws continued to apply, and a German citizen was a person who held citizenship of one of the states of the German Empire.

On 22 July 1913, the Nationality Law of the German Empire and States (Reichs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, shorthand: RuStAG) established a German citizenship, either derived from the citizenship of one of the component states or acquired through the central Reich government.

Under the Third Reich, in 1934, the German nationality law was amended to abolish separate state citizenships and creating a uniform Reich citizenship, with the central Reich authorities having power to naturalise or denaturalise persons. In 1935, the Reich Citizenship Law (Reichsbürgergesetz), the second of the Nuremberg Laws, created a new category called "state subjects" (Staatsangehörige) to which Jews were assigned, thereby withdrawing citizenship from previous Jewish citizens. Only "Aryans" retained Reich citizenship.

In 13 March 1938, the German nationality law was extended to Austria following the Anschluss which annexed Austria to Germany. On 27 April 1945 Austria was re-established and conferred Austrian citizenship on all persons who would have been Austrian on that date had the former (pre-1938) nationality law of Austria remained in force. Such persons lost their German nationality automatically. Also see Austrian nationality law.

The Nazi amendments of 1934 and the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were revoked by Allied occupational ordinance in 1945, restoring the 1913 nationality law. That law was operational until the 1999 reforms.

Article 116(1) of the German Basic Law (constitution) confers, within the confines of the laws regulating the details, a right to citizenship upon any person who is admitted to Germany (in its 1937 borders) as "refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such a person." At one time, ethnic Germans living abroad in a country in the former Eastern Bloc (Aussiedler) could obtain citizenship through a virtually automatic procedure. Since 1990 the law has been steadily tightened to limit the number of immigrants each year. It now requires immigrants to prove language skills and cultural affiliation.

Article 116(2) entitles persons (and their descendants), who were denaturalised by the Nazi government, to be renaturalised if they wish. Those among them, who after May 8, 1945 take up residence in Germany are automatically considered German citizens. Both regulations, (1) and (2), provided for a considerable numbers of Poles and Israelis, residing in Poland and Israel, to be concurrently German citizens.

Birth in Germany

Children born on or after 1 January 2000 to non-German parents acquire German citizenship at birth if at least one parent:

• has a permanent residence permit; and
• has been residing in Germany for at least eight years.

Such children will be required to apply to retain German citizenship by the age of 23. Assuming this law is not changed or overturned by a court, these persons will normally be required to prove they do not hold any other foreign citizenship. The only exceptions are EU citizens and citizens of countries where it is impossible to lose your citizenship, like Morocco, Nigeria or Iran, for example.

Parents who are citizens of European Economic Area states or Switzerland are eligible to receive permanent resident permits after five years.

Descent from a German parent

A person born of a parent with German citizenship at the time of the child's birth is a German citizen. Place of birth is not a factor in citizenship determination based on parentage.

• Those born after 1 January 1975 are Germans if the mother or father is a German citizen.
• Those born before 1 January 1975 could normally only claim German citizenship from the father and not the mother. Exceptions included cases where the parents were unmarried (in which case German mothers could pass on citizenship) or where the German mother applied for the child to be registered as German on or before 31 December 1977.
• Special rules exist for those born before 1 July 1993 if only the father is German and is not married to the mother. The father must acknowledge paternity and must have married the mother before 1 July 1998.
• A child born in a foreign country will no longer receive German citizenship automatically by birth, if his/her German parent was born after 31 December 1999 in a foreign country and has his/her primary residence there. Exceptions are:

1. The child would be stateless.
2. The German parent registers the child's birth within one year of birth to the responsible German agency abroad.

• In case both parents are German citizens, German citizenship will not be passed on automatically, if both parents were born abroad after 31 December 1999 and have their primary residence outside of Germany. Exceptions are same as the above.
• Those born in Germany and adopted to a foreign country would need to contact their local German Consulate for clarification of German citizenship.

Persons who are Germans on the basis of descent from a German parent do not have to apply to retain German citizenship by age 23. If they acquire another citizenship at birth, they can usually continue to hold this.

Adoption

A child adopted by a German citizen becomes German national automatically if aged less than 18 on the date the application for adoption was made. So dual citizenship is granted.

Naturalisation as a German citizen

Naturalisation by entitlement

An individual who fulfils all of the following criteria has an entitlement to naturalise as a German citizen:

• he/she has been ordinarily resident in Germany for at least 8 years (this period can be reduced - see below)
• he/she has legal capacity or a legal representative
• confirms his/her present and past commitment to the free democratic constitutional system enshrined in the German Basic Law (or that he is presently committed to such principles and has departed from former support of ideas contrary to such principles)
• he/she is a European Union or Swiss citizen in possession of the appropriate residence permit which permits the free movement of persons, or he/she is a non-EU/Swiss citizen who has been granted a permanent right of residence
• he/she is able to support himself/herself without recourse to benefits
• he/she has not been sentenced for an unlawful act and is not subject to any court order imposing a measure of reform and prevention
• he/she possesses an adequate knowledge of German
• possesses knowledge of the legal system, the society and living conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany

An individual who does not have legal capacity is entitled to naturalise as a German citizen merely through ordinary residence in Germany for at least 8 years - he/she does not have to fulfil the other criteria (e.g. adequate command of the German language and ability to be self-supporting without recourse to benefits).

Applicants for naturalisation are normally expected to prove they have renounced their existing nationality, or will lose this automatically upon naturalisation. An exception applies to those unable to give up their nationality easily (such as refugees). A further exception applies to citizens of Switzerland and the European Union member states.

An individual who is entitled to naturalise as a German citizen can also apply for his/her spouse and minor children to be naturalised at the same time (his/her spouse and minor children need not have ordinarily resided in Germany for at least 8 years).

Exceptions to the normal residence requirements include:

• persons who have completed an integration course may have the residence requirement reduced to 7 years
• If a person shows that he/she is especially well integrated and has a higher level of command of the German language than the basic requirement for the German citizenship (i.e., higher than B1) may have the residence requirement reduced to 6 years
• The spouse of a German citizen may be naturalised after 3 years of continual residency in Germany. The marriage must have persisted for at least 2 years.
• refugees and stateless persons may be able to apply after 6 years of continual residency
• former German citizens

Naturalisation by discretion

An individual who is ordinarily resident outside may be naturalised as a German citizen if he/she can demonstrate sufficient ties with Germany which justify his/her naturalisation.

Victims of Nazi persecution

Under Article 116 (2) Basic Law, some people who lost German citizenship under the Nazi regime may be eligible for naturalisation without requiring residence in Germany or renunciation of their existing citizenship. Descendants of such persons may also be eligible for German citizenship.

German-born children

Under transitional arrangements in the 1999 reforms (effective 1 January 2000), children who were born in Germany in 1990 or later, and would have been German had the law change been in force at the time, were entitled to be naturalised as German citizens.

• An application for naturalisation was required by 31 December 2000.
• The child was required to apply for retention of German citizenship by age 23 and normally show that no other foreign citizenship was held at that time.

Naturalization statistics

Between 1995 and 2004, 1,278,424 people have obtained German citizenship by naturalization. This means, that about 1.5% of the total German population had been naturalized during that period.

Naturalization of foreigners in Germany per (selected) country and year.
Source: Official 2012 Migration Report, p. 212

Country/Year	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2011	2012
Turkey	31,578	46,294	42,240	59,664	103,900	82,861	76,573	64,631	56,244	44,465	28,103	33246
Iran	874	649	1,171	1,529	1,863	14,410	12,020	13,026	9,440	6,362	2,728	2463
Serbia and Montenegro	3,623	2,967	2,244	2,721	3,444	9,776	12,000	8,375	5,504	3,539	6,309	6,085
Afghanistan	1,666	1,819	1,475	1,200	1,355	4,773	5,111	4,750	4,948	4,077	2,711	2,717
Morocco	3,288	2,918	4,010	4,981	4,312	5,008	4,425	3,800	4,118	3,820	-	2,852
Lebanon	595	784	1,159	1,782	2,491	5,673	4,486	3,300	2,651	2,265	-	1,283
Croatia	2,479	2,268	1,789	2,198	1,536	3,316	3,931	2,974	2,048	1,689	-	-
Bosnia-Herzegovina	2,010	1,926	995	3,469	4,238	4,002	3,791	2,357	1,770	2,103	-	1,865
Vietnam	3,357	3,464	3,129	3,452	2,270	4,489	3,014	1,482	1,423	1,371	2,428	3,299
Pakistan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,151	1,251
Poland	10,174	7,872	5,763	4,968	2,787	1,604	1,774	2,646	2,990	7,499	4,281	4,496
Russian Federation	–	–	–	–	–	4,583	4,972	3,734	2,764	4,381	2,965	3,167
Ukraine	–	–	–	–	–	2,978	3,295	3,656	3,889	3,844	4,264	3,691
Iraq	364	363	290	319	483	984	1,264	1,721	2,999	3,564	4,790	3,510
Israel	1,025	0	584	0	802	1,101	1,364	1,739	2,844	3,164	1,971	1,438
Total (including countries not mentioned)	71,981	86,356	82,913	106,790	143,267	186,688	178,098	154,547	140,731	127,153	106,897	112,348

Loss of German citizenship

German citizenship is automatically lost when a German citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country, except:

1. When the German citizen acquires a nationality from within the European Union, Switzerland, or another country with which Germany has a corresponding treaty.
2. When permission to obtain a foreign citizenship has been applied for and granted in advance of foreign naturalization. Failure to obtain so-called permit to retain German citizenship prior to naturalization results in the individual automatically losing German citizenship upon becoming a naturalized citizen of another country.

Other cases where German citizenship can be lost include:

• Persons acquiring German citizenship on the basis of birth in Germany (without a German parent) lose German citizenship automatically at age 23 if they have not successfully applied to retain German citizenship. If it is desired to maintain a foreign citizenship, application must be made by age 21.
• A German citizen who voluntarily serves in a foreign army (over and above compulsory military service) from 1 January 2000 may lose German citizenship unless permission is obtained from the German government. From 6 July 2011, the permission to serve above compulsory military service is automatically given for the armies of EU, EFTA, NATO countries and the armies of Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
• A German child adopted by foreign parents, where the child automatically acquires the nationality of the adoptive parents under the law of the adoptive parents' country. (For example, a German child adopted by Americans prior to 27 February 2001—the effective date of the U.S. Child Citizenship Act of 2000—would not have automatically lost his/her German citizenship, because the child did not automatically acquire United States citizenship by virtue of having been adopted by U.S. citizens.) An exception applies where legal ties to the German parent are maintained.

Dual citizenship

Allowed under following circumstances:

• 1. If the other citizenship is the one of another EU country or of Switzerland. Non-EU- and non-Swiss citizens must usually renounce their old citizenship if they want to become German citizens. There are exceptions made for citizens of countries that do not allow their citizens to renounce their citizenship (e.g. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica; the following jus-soli countries allow renunciation only if the citizenship was acquired involuntarily by birth there to non-citizen parents: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay), or if the renunciation process is too difficult/humiliating and/or too expensive (e.g. Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia), or, rarely, in individual cases if the renunciation of the old citizenship means enormous disadvantages for the concerned person.
• 2. If a German citizen acquires a non-EU/non-Swiss citizenship with the permission ("Beibehaltungsgenehmigung") of the German Government (e.g. existing relative ties or property in Germany or in the other country or if the occupation abroad requires domestic citizenship for execution.). The voluntary acquisition of a non-EU/non-Swiss citizenship without permission usually means the automatic loss of the German citizenship. The permission is not necessary if the other citizenship is of another EU country or of Switzerland.
• 3. If he/she is a refugee and holds a 1951 travel document during naturalization.
• 4. If a child born to German parents acquires another citizenship at birth (e.g. based on place of birth, or descent from one parent). Children born on or after 1 January 2000 to non-German parents acquire German citizenship at birth if at least one parent has a permanent residence permit (and had this status for at least three years) and the parent was residing in Germany for at least eight years. Under the current law, which restricts dual citizenship, children of non-EU and non-Swiss citizens must usually choose between German and foreign citizenship when they are 23 years old ("Optionspflicht" = the duty to choose one citizenship). Failing to make a choice can result in the loss of the German citizenship. For exceptions, see Point 1.

Changes of the law (e.g. the abolition of the "Optionspflicht") are being discussed.

Citizenship of the European Union

German citizens are also citizens of the European Union and thus enjoy rights of free movement and have the right to vote in elections for the European Parliament.

External links

• Federal Agency for Immigration and Naturalisation (German language)
• Background Paper, German Citizenship
• Nationality Law, Federal Ministry of Justice