German/British dual nationality (post Brexit)

[Militantmartha]

My child was born this year in the UK to one British and one German parent meaning they are automatically a dual National by birth.

This is a long shot but does anyone have experience of this? And have an idea how Brexit will impact dual nationality?

Do I need to register their birth in Germany/is there any paperwork that needs doing ahead of doomsday?

Have tried getting info out of the embassy but it is a very long winded process as they are very busy.

Apply for german passport now at your nearest German Embassy.

German rules on dual citizenship are confused, but at present one can have dual German/EU country citizenship without problems. And the Interior Ministry has said they will respect that for existing dual nationals post Brexit.

If the UK leaves without a deal on 31/10 and you have not got your application in it could make things more complicated.

Thanks for the reply! It is very confusing indeed.

I have actually tried to apply already - things are little more complicated as we were not married when our baby was born so we have an extra step/set of paper work to deal with first.

The issue I have is that there are no available appointments at the German embassy in London. I can't even make an appointment for well into the future there is literally nothing. They have said it is because they are so busy with people applying before Brexit.

We are thinking of going back to Germany to get it sorted. Do you have any experience of this?

@Wimbledonsemis sorry should have tagged you in the above

Sorry - we got ours sorted at an embassy some time ago.

I suppose you could go back to Germany, register as residents (you will need a rental agreement or similar) and then apply through your local bürgeramt. Maybe you could move in with grandparents or similar.

I imagine that for a first passport application the German authorities will want to retain the child’s UK passport while they run checks before they issue the German document, so the child will have to stay in Germany until the German passport is issued.

Not sure what happens with unmarried parents - Germany can be very old fashioned on these things. I assume it is more straightforward to get a German passport if the mother is the German citizen.

Thanks @Wimbledonsemis no plans for location that just wouldn't be possible with our work. From what I understand it makes no difference if the parent is the mother or father - the right to citizenship is the same through either provided the child was born after 1st July 1993.

I have already been told by the embassy that our child automatically has German citizenship from birth, but not if there is any specific paper work I need and what will happen after Brexit. That is the part I'm unsure about. I will continue to look into this.

Brexit sure is a mess!

*no plans for relocation

Are you and the father married? If so there's no issue at all. If not married you may need to do a Vaterschaftsanerkennung. No one yet knows whether the rules on dual citizenship will change after Brexit.
On the Brexit FAQ page of the Germany embassy in the UK it states you do not need to apply for citizenship if gaining this through birth (added a screenshot).

If I were you I would just apply for a passport for your child now before Brexit then you at least have a document proving the child's dual nationality which may make any necessary red tape after Brexit much easier. German passports are much cheaper than British ones (it's why my kids only have a German one!) a child's passport costs £23,40 and can be done within 2 days.
uk.diplo.de/uk-de/02/-pass/pass-minderjaehrige

Otherwise seems you don't need to do anything.

Brexit will not affect the rules of dual nationality. The rules are already the same for people who aren't from the EU. For example if you were American or Brazilian and your husband was German, then your child would still be a dual national and would have the automatic right to a German passport.
In addition a passport is nothing more than a travel document, it confers no nationality. Your child already has the nationality by birth. Brexit will not change this so there is no need to worry.

There's no need to make an appointment with the German embassy (unless, of course, you live close by anyway). We went through the local consulate when DS was born and it wasn't an issue. Our closest one was in Cardiff.
Funnily enough, he does have a British birth certificate but no British passport, yet. That was meant to be DH's job and he's still not got round to it. DS has had his German passport from a few weeks old.
We're currently living in Germany, so getting his British one might be a little bit more complicated now.

@givememarmite thanks! We are not married just yet. Keen to get this resolved and apply for a passport before Brexit but there are no appointments at the embassy.

Have you checked for appointments in one of the honorary consulates? They might not be as busy as the embassy, if you have the chance to travel on one of them.

And good luck with it all! I'm currently waiting on some news re my citizenship application (Brit in Germany!) so I get how confusing and frustrating it can be

@givememarmite good luck with yours too! How long have you been waiting?

It does seem that the German system is that bit more clunky and tricky to navigate doesn't it. Getting our baby's British passport was very quick and simple to do.

I will look into honorary consulates to see if I can get an apt elsewhere.

Only been waiting since January, they did say it could take 9 months...last minute panic before the original deadline!

I guess it's a lot more complicated if you're applying for the passport outside of the country...to be fair when I got my kids German passports I just walked into our local town hall with the kids, 2 photos each, birth certificates and our marriage certificate, paid something like €70 for both and walked out with the passports about 30 minutes later! I was surprised because I don't generally have such quick experience with German bureaucracy

That is super quick!

If only my partner and I had got married before baby's arrival - even just as a formality - I'm sure it would all move a lot quicker

I'm sure you will be fine as you've already started the process. Regardless it is very frustrating having to do everything according to the Brexit timeline which we've had imposed on us!

Reading with interest. We have a similar situation, though have subsequently married after our son's birth. He currently has a British passport that expires in Dec 2020 and don't know what to do for the best.

@MaidofKent78 I have emailed one of the honorary consuls a list of questions around this so if they can answer them I'll post the replies.

Militantmartha getting the passport for the country you live in is always easier. We live in Germany (I am British but now duel citizen, DH German) and getting our children German passports was easy - if you're resident you just go into the town hall, no appointments needed, fill in a one page form and pick the passport up for a cost of 11€ the following week.

It's easy here because everyone is registered where they're resident though.

The only way you could twerk things is to register as resident at the German grandparents' address for 6-8 weeks or so and travel back and forth, or even better if you're on matrnity leave with the baby stay there in that time. A hassle but less of one than renting a flat!

Is that possible?

Tweak not twerk

Slightly different situation for us but will share in case it’s helpful
DH was a German citizen until age 10 when they moved to England and at some point his Mum renounced his German Citizenship ( she was British) on his behalf
Last year he looked into regaining it and contacted the embassy, was told initially no but then he found a loophole in that because he was under 18 and his Mum gave up his citizenship he could have it back. We had to get together loads of documents such as parents passports (his father was German), death certificates, birth certificates and went to the consulate in Leeds where a really nice helpful lady sorted it all out. She told us to apply for the dc while England was still in the EU because while Germany allows dual nationality with another EU state once we left would couldn’t get it, although they would be able to keep it if they already had it.
Once he got dual German/English we could apply for the dc, even though they were born in England to 2 (at the time) English parents. Again we got documents together and went to Leeds and the same lady helped us apply
They too now have dual nationality and from what we understand will be able to keep it when we leave The EU

I would also suggest trying a consulate. My DCs have another citizenship (not EU) and we have to go in person for their passports but though we've used London before we think we will go for a consulate next time as it will be a change/probably quicker/cheaper to stay over.