"Which of us has never felt the desire to live at once in our own homeland, caught up in all its concerns,
and at the same time somewhere in Paris, or London?"
Dual Citizenship
Since 2024, Germany has allowed most naturalizing citizens to keep their previous citizenship — though exceptions still apply for certain countries (§§ 10-12 StAG).
Nikolai Lossky
German law has always been considered conservative and traditional. This much is clear from the fact that every question relating to citizenship is governed by Germany's Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, or StAG), which was passed all the way back on 22 July 1913 by the legislature of the German Empire. Naturalization is the legal process of acquiring citizenship at the voluntary request of the applicant. The procedure for granting citizenship is governed by the state's law. Usually, acquiring citizenship requires meeting a number of conditions (language proficiency, having housing, and other requirements). The term "naturalization" historically refers to acquiring the rights of natural-born citizens (or subjects). The requirements and conditions for acquiring German citizenship are governed by the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz).
Regardless of who is applying for a German passport, it grants every citizen:
EU citizenship and the possibility of obtaining citizenship of any other EU country on favorable terms;
all the rights, social guarantees, and obligations placed on other German citizens;
the right to permanent residence in any European country;
the ability to move freely within the Schengen area;
visa-free travel to virtually the entire world — a visa is only required for around 10-15 countries.
It's no surprise that many citizens of other countries seek to acquire German citizenship by renouncing their own country's citizenship, especially where a non-EU country is involved. In the overwhelming majority of cases, renouncing one's original citizenship is a mandatory condition for acquiring German citizenship. So, once all the documents have been prepared and submitted, the necessary exams and procedures completed, and the case reviewed favorably in Germany, the foreign national receives, by mail, a preliminary assurance of naturalization (Einbürgerungszusicherung). This document guarantees that citizenship will be granted and therefore allows the person to begin the process of renouncing their previous citizenship. Once that renunciation process is complete, the candidate for citizenship must surrender their old passport and present a document confirming the renunciation. Only then can a German passport be issued. As is well known, there is no rule without an exception. In this article, we will tell you about one case from our varied practice in which our firm's lawyer managed to help a client keep his Ukrainian citizenship while also acquiring German citizenship.
Our firm's client was a middle-aged man — let's call him Mikhail. Mikhail had moved to Germany as a student, enrolled and successfully graduated from one of the local universities, and then found a job and started a family. By the time he approached our firm, the question at hand was whether he could acquire German citizenship — the country where he permanently resided. By that point, he had already successfully gathered the documents and received the corresponding preliminary assurance of naturalization (Einbürgerungszusicherung). The next step was renouncing his existing Ukrainian citizenship, which turned out to be problematic. Mikhail first approached the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, asking to begin the renunciation procedure without having to leave the country. Having received a clear and categorical refusal there, he came to our law firm for help with this problem. He explained to our immigration lawyer that traveling from Germany to Ukraine would be extremely difficult for him for several reasons at once.
First, he needed to deregister his residence in Ukraine and obtain a passport stamp confirming his relocation to Germany. This procedure posed particular difficulties for our client, since, given the political situation in Ukraine, showing up at his last registered address could have resulted in his immediate conscription into military service.
Second, Mikhail had a family in Germany — a wife and two preschool-age children. On top of that, his wife was pregnant with their third child, which made leaving her alone with the children for an extended period extremely difficult.
Third, our client held a permanent job in Germany. He had already used part of his annual leave, and the remaining days were sorely needed so he could help his wife during the first weeks after the third child's birth. Being the family's sole breadwinner, he also could not afford to take unpaid leave from work.
Our lawyer listened carefully to the client and explained that, as a general rule, renouncing one's original citizenship is a mandatory condition for acquiring German citizenship, and German authorities are extremely strict on this point. However, exceptions to this rule do exist. That is, a candidate for citizenship may be exempted from providing a certificate of renunciation if there are compelling reasons for it, for example:
the foreign national's home country's law does not provide for renunciation of citizenship;
the authorities fail to respond to a renunciation request for a prolonged period;
migrants over 60 may be exempted from renouncing citizenship if the process involves complicated bureaucratic procedures;
the applicant for German citizenship is over 40, has not visited their home country for 20 of those years, and has lived in Germany for 10 years;
losing the previous citizenship would cause the applicant significant economic or material harm.
In addition, if the first citizenship belongs to an EU member state, renouncing it is likewise not required.
The lawyer's main task in achieving a favorable outcome in this case was to provide a solid justification showing that our client's situation fell within one of these exceptions.
Our lawyer got to work immediately. First, he requested information from the Ukrainian embassy on the official procedure for renouncing that country's citizenship. He also requested, and obtained, an official written refusal from the embassy to carry out this procedure in Germany.
He then prepared an argument showing that, given the emergency situation prevailing in certain regions of Ukraine at the time, Mikhail's visiting the country could have resulted in his immediate conscription into the army.
Finally, our lawyer thoroughly built up the evidence base showing that the center of our client's life had long since shifted from Ukraine to Germany. Evidence was gathered and submitted showing that Mikhail had a family and a job in Germany, and moreover that his wife was expecting their third child, making it practically impossible to leave the country for a prolonged period at that time. Under these circumstances, it could safely be concluded that our client had long since had no remaining ties to Ukraine.
Naturally, all of the lawyer's arguments set out in the petition to the authority competent to process the naturalization application, the Standesamt, were backed by corresponding documentary evidence confirming the insurmountable difficulties involved in Mikhail renouncing his Ukrainian citizenship. The positive result of the lawyer's carefully prepared work was not long in coming. Just a month after the lawyer filed the petition, together with the required set of documents for review, we received a response confirming that our petition had been granted in full. As a result, an exception was made in Mikhail's case, and he was not required to renounce his Ukrainian citizenship or, accordingly, to travel back to his former homeland to complete the necessary formalities under the burdensome and lengthy renunciation procedure. A delighted Mikhail thanked us for our professional and prompt work. All that remained for him now was to complete the remaining formalities to obtain his long-awaited German passport.
Overall, it's worth noting that there are quite a few grounds for obtaining German citizenship. In most cases, however, the process will take considerable time, and the applicant will need to gather a fairly substantial set of documents. To make this process painless and pleasant, we invite you to turn to our firm's highly qualified lawyers, who have extensive knowledge and rich experience working in German immigration law.
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