Can I get German pass prts for my dc :, half German dad and granny German?

[Germanpassport]

I have tried to un pick the info on the website and it's confusing me with citizenship etc.

I just want go see if we can apply for passports for them. When dh was young he once had a German pp

That's just been changed. Was allowed before for EU and some other nationalities but has now been extended.

The answer is it depends.

If a child is born to parents of different nationalities then it will have dual nationality - unless - the other country has different rules. Some countries made their citizen choose when they were 18 but I think EU countries don't do this anymore.

So a German dad and Italian mum - child is German and Italian. There are additional rights about children born to EU parents in Germany that they acquire German citizenship at birth depending on the parent's circumstances.

What you can't do is applying for a nationality outside the EU nationalities and keep your German citizenship unless you apply for it, pay a small fortune and you have to thoroughly show that you still have long-lasting and close ties to Germany.

@Germanpassport When your DH had a passport in the past, he shouldn't have lost his German citizenship just because it expired, it doesn't work that way.
But - parents can apply for children to give up a nationality. My cousin's DH in Germany lost his British citizenship when his mum made the decision for him as a child when his parents divorced.

You should be able to find an email address for the German embassy on their website and ask them detailed questions. You could also contact the Auswärtiges Amt, more details here but only in German:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/staatsangehoerigkeitsrecht/2088844

I brought all the things on the list, plus anything else potentially relevant. So if you have dh's mum's birth certificate, or her Gm passport (even if expired etc) I would bring them all along for good measure.

Germany has in the past been weird about dual nationality, and people's attitudes can still be a bit funny about it. But the rules about having to give up one citizenship only applied to people acquiring a different citizenship (ie. Germans acquiring a foreign nationality, or foreign nationals acquiring German citizenship). If you have a parent who is or was a German citizen at the time of your birth, then that doesn't count as acquiring a citizenship, since technically you already have the citizenship by right of birth. That type of dual nationality for children with one German parent and one foreign national has been allowed since the mid 1970s.

Wow, I'm taken aback! I'm so appreciative of all the help, thanks everyone esp @LarissaFeodorovna! ¶
It's all looking pretty straight forward!
I'm sure something will crop up but it's looking quite easy.
I know someone whose fully of anther eu nationality and both patents also that nationality and they are having lots of issues with that embassy it's been torturous hence I've never been really looked into it!

As Grumpypanda says above

"That's just been changed. Was allowed before for EU and some other nationalities but has now been extended."

I read about this within the last couple of weeks. AFAIR it was not yet fully passed into law. If thats right then its very much a moving target that you may be able to keep track of using ye olde Internet

My kids have tripple citizenships including German.

just to add.....it may be an amendment being done in parallel with

https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/new-rules-for-naturalisation-in-germany

Its as if someone in Berlin woke up to a future of more 'pensioners' than 'workers' .........

You may need to apply for a determination of citizenship (staatsangehörigkeitsausweis) for your children. It requires a massive amount of paperwork and takes YEARS to process - mine took nearly 3 years to process.
If your children are determined to be German citizens, they will be issued with a certificate confirming their citizenship and can use this to apply for a passport.
FYI Germany allows dual citizenship if your other citizenship (non-EU/non-Swiss) was acquired at birth, and allows dual citizenship by naturalization of a different EU country/Switzerland.

For those asking why you want to apply for it- there are many reasons but the most obvious is that it is your child’s birthright?!?!

@PopcornBandit thanks, I don't think I would need too as dh was a citizen when they were born?

@Germanpassport possibly but every time your children renew their passport they will need to bring all of their father’s documents with to prove their citizenship- my husband has this issue as he doesn’t have his determination of citizenship certificate. I only present my certificate and my current passport to renew; I don’t have to prove my descent each time. Its a future-proofing thing; since you will have all the evidence anyway it is in your childrens best interest going forward to have the certificate as irrefutable evidence of their citizenship.

EU passport can be quite nice to have.
Our children have dual citizenship. Having EU passport was equal to a no fee education for our dd1 in my native country. Ds attends a university in England.
Dd1 lives and work in France on her EU passport. She would need a lot a paperwork if relocating on her UK passport.

If you are born outside of Germany to at least one German parent you may qualify for dual citizenship.

Germany changes laws this year 2024 about citizenship. I would seek legal advice.

Probably because we only have shitty British ones now and have lost our EU freedom of movement privileges.

I'd imagine the same reason me and my children are currently applying for Polish citizenship: to be part of EU, to be allowed to live and work in Europe, and because it's increasingly embarrassing to be British.

Edited to say that that was to @WeeOrcadian asking why the desire for German citizenship.

@Germanpassport

It's an interesting question.

Is there a particular reason why you would like them to have German passports? I assume that they already have British ones.

@PopcornBandit
How long do the passports last for?
Can you use two passports on one trip?

@Germanpassport

PS

Most of the Honorary Consuls representing Germany in the UK are able to deal with passport applications, as can the Embassy in London and the Consulate in Edinburgh, of course.

As there is a real complexity to your case, I'm wondering whether the best way forward would be to ask the most suitable Honorary Consul for you whether you could visit them for an appointment, before you actually submit an actual application. Your children and husband should go with you, just in case the Consul is able to activate the early stages of an application for you.

Be sure to take all the documentation you have, birth certificates for your children and husband, marriage certificate, any passports he has or details of passports he has held in the past etc.

The Consul will tell you what else he/she would want to look at.

They would deal with applications from their specific region. Which city is nearest to you?

Children - 7 years
Adult - 10 years

We always travel with 2 passports, leave UK on the British one, enter EU with the German one. Leave the EU with the German one and enter UK with the British.

This was the advise we were given by the German border control. And it's a lot faster as we don't have to queue for stamps.

@TheSquareMile

A German passport is worth it's weight in gold for a child nowadays.

Not only because it shows their second nationality and it's their right to have, it opens doors Brexit so kindly shut for them. They can live, work, study (if the UK A-level is accepted) in all EU countries with not a lot more than their passports.

During EU times, lots of families with one non-UK parent didn't bother with registering birth or even teaching the second language and I always found this very sad, DD is as German with all it's traditions and quirks as she is British.

The right to live and work anywhere in the EU surely? Also the possibility of studying in the EU. One of my dc is studying in Germany where there are no university fees, which you can theoretically also do as a Brit, but you'd need a student visa and there are quite onerous conditions about showing that you have enough money to support yourself in a blocked bank account etc etc.

As a German national you can avoid all that, plus you get access to the German equivalent of student finance, which is hugely more generous than the UK version, since only 50% of the amount is repayable (the rest is a grant) and the loan element is at 0% interest for the duration. The cost of living is also significantly lower (free public transport for students and much cheaper rents than UK student accommodation).

If you're entitled to any kind of EU passport you'd be daft not to jump through whatever hoops they require, tbh.

@TheSquareMile yes as pp said why not!
Unfortunately it doesn't look like mum and wife gets the same privaledges but even using different passports for entry and exit would surely be a handy thing to have.

@LarissaFeodorovna that's incredible that your dc can get a degree that way for free. I assume they speak German though, mine don't

@Germanpassport

I would go for it, in that case.

Which large city is closest to you? You will need to see the Honorary Consul there.

Dc did not in fact speak German before heading out there - he took an intensive German course via Goethe institut after A-levels, but is doing a degree course taught in English, of which there are quite a few. After two years in DE he's pretty functional in German, although by no means grammatically perfect.

@LarissaFeodorovna thank you so much for all your amazing info on this thread!
That's astonishing re son and a degree taught in English!

@TheSquareMile london.
I'm picking through all the links.
It looks fairly straight forward except another link to follow because dh didn't have. Valid pp when dc born in terms of paper work to submit.

@Germanpassport

If your children would like to learn German, there are various opportunities with the Goethe Institut.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/spr/kur/fer/kuj.html

https://www.goethe.de/ins/de/en/jug.html

They could start with a book, of course. Stimmt is suitable for their age, but you can ask the languages staff at Foyles for suggestions, in case there is something more recent which would be more suitable.

https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/stimmt-1-pupil-book/michael-spencer/9781447935216

If they make progress and are interested, they can catch up with the old editions of Das Rad.

https://de.maryglasgowplus.com/magazines

It's a wonderful language.