HAs anyone claimed German citizenship under the 2021 rules - was it easy? Any advice?

[londonmummy1966]

MIL was German and FIL was not so MIL had to give up her German citizenship on marriage. DH was born pre 1975 so it looks as if he is eligible to claim German citizenship under the 2021 changes and that my DC are also eligible. I suspect the siblings and their DC will also want to claim this. Has anyone been through the process - how complicated is it - we have everyone's birth certificates and MIL's marriage certificate but not her German passport - will the birth certificates be enough?

Are there any reasons not to claim citizenship - I can't think of any.

Was he born in wedlock?

I thought if he was born before 1975 then his father would have had to be German not his mother which isn't the case here.

I think the best is to contact the German Embassy, they have also a lot on their website.

If I am not mistaken he will have to give up his other nationality (assume British?)

In Germany I don't think dual citizenship is allowed if you are claiming both through birth. I guess your husband was born in UK but is German by descent?

I have dual German and British citizenship but I acquired German one through naturalisation so that is apparently allowed according to the local authorities. My children however were born in Germany acquired the citizenship through birth and from what I understand they will have to pick which citizenship to keep once they turn 23.

As for your children I don't think they would qualify for German citizenship as I'm not even sure they are German by descent.

Do your husband and children speak German, live in Germany? Is your husband willing and able to do national service if it were to be reintroduced? (Unlikely but it has't been gone all that long)I'm not quite sure why they need German citizenship?

Oh and to answer your question nothing to do with authorities in Germany is easy. Get signatures and passport copies of the last 10 people you have spoken to and you might be OK. It's efficient if you know the system but I've no idea how you'd do anything if you can't speak German

Don’t know but following with interest.

@NoKnit
I have both German and British citizenship through birth/blood as an adult. The German rules are that you can have multiple citizenships through descent, especially if those citizenships are EU/European (the UK still counts as European for this purpose). They don’t like multiple citizenships through naturalisation but multiply EU citizenships are still ok. https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/faqs/EN/topics/migration/staatsang/Doppelte_Staatsangehoerigkeit_Mehrstaatigkeit_en.html

@NoKnit - no, if you require a second nationality by birth than you don't have to give one up at any time.

You can't aquire one outside certain EU states without giving your German one up. You can get French nationality by naturalisation without a problem but not the US one. The rules for GB were changed after Brexit.

A friend of mine did this last year as did all the other grandchildren of the generation. She did it with her dad and it was amazing!
Not sure on the details but she said it was straightforward. She absolutely loved her trip to the embassy!

It's all a bit confusing really. I've been told conflicting things so many times at the authorities. I guess we'll just be contacted as and when

@londonmummy1966 really interested in how you get on with this.

I'm similar in that my maternal Gran was German and married a British soldier after the 2WW.

I thought German dual nationality was only possible with other EU states even after the recent change to allow nationality by descent from women but hopefully I am wrong!

Thank you everyone - it seems pretty clear that the 2021 rules would allow DH and the DC to claim German citizenship so long as they meet the 2031 timelimit. However Mr Google suggests that his mother's birth certificate might not be good enough to prove she had German nationality at birth. I just wondered if anyone had any knowledge on what evidence we'd need. Also her father didn't return after WW2 as he was one of the victims of Russian decimation of German PoWs so not a lot of documentation about him.

I think the rule re giving up citizenship on marriage only applies pre 1953- did they get married a long time ago?

We've been through this and sadly MIL gave up her citizenship later than this but before DH was born so no dice. This is the best information I've found https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/citizenship/acquiring-german-citizenship/2463622#content_0

I've found the German embassy in London to be very helpful via email - it's worth sending them a message and seeing what they advise. Good luck OP!

@DoubleHelix79 -thank you - I think that's DH will do.

@londonmummy1966 I've just been looking at all the forms and paperwork required. It says German birth certificates are not sufficient but passports/identity cards are. I don't think my Gran ever had a German Passport (she never left the country till after her marriage) and not sure about identity card either though I do know where her mother's identity card is.

The YouTuber Hannah Witton has just become a German national, may have some advice on this.

@Thecatisboss I know MIL had one but is long dead and no idea where to look - will see what the Embassy recommend. @LlynTegid (great name!) will have a look.

A slightly different situation but a friend and her family had their citizenship restored as descendants of German Jews who had been stripped of their citizenship by the Nazis. The process was complicated but efficient. IIRC they hired a specialist bilingual lawyer who was enormously helpful. If you don’t speak German you would be wise to consider some kind of bilingual intermediary.

@londonmummy1966 thank you for starting this thread. I thought it wasn't possible for me to claim but looks as if you are right!

I've been reading through all the forms which are fairly straightforward. Only problem seems to be finding documentation from 60 years ago! Annoying it seems as if only original paperwork or notarized is acceptable (Annoying as I could easily get a friend who is a solicitor to certify them but that's not acceptable).

@Thecatisboss - glad its helpful we've only just found out too. Notarisation isn't too expensive.

My mother is german, born 1940, married my father (British nationality), but she has her german passport (she never gave it up!) and nationality still. But I was told by the german embassy that I was not eligible for dual nationality, because it is traced through the father (before 1976 or some such- I was born early 1970s). It pisses me off.

@Hergee the law in German has changed in 2021 so you can now claim up until 2031 as they recognised the sex discrimination. You can now claim German citizenship!

@Thecatisboss Im not sure: the link posted above by @Doinst still indicates that this is not a given, if mother, with me born before 1975?. It looks like the rule still stands, unless I can argue close links with Germany, which I no longer can. I used to be fluent in german but even my german is now very rusty.

And the german embassy wrote to me about it in german - that’s the first hurdle.

Oh and I was in touch with the german embassy in nov 2021. They basically said they couldn’t help me, since pre 1975 and via my mother, but gave me some links. Utter sexist claptrap.