Dual Nationality / birth in Germany

[Gruebsy86]

Hello,

we are planning to have a baby soon. My partner is British and I'm German. We both live in the UK (he since birth, I since 2013). We would like our kids to have the British and German nationality for various reasons. I would also like to give birth in Germany as my sister is a midwife and I wouldn't want to have anyone else but her taking care of me and baby through labour and birth and I just trust the German care system more.
Did anyone else do something similar? Was it easy to apply for a British passport when the father is British (we will be living in the UK) but the baby was born in Germany? I know that you can apply through the NHS to give birth abroad but couldn't find very much about dual nationality.
Thank you!

If one of your parents is a British citizen you automatically are too. The gov.uk website is useful for this, but I believe there's little on dual nationality on there as it's not an issue from the British government's POV.

Renewing will certainly be less of a faff than going to the German embassy every 5-10 years.

Not sure how it works bringing the baby to the UK without a passport though

www.gov.uk/check-british-citizen

Can you be a joint national with German nationality? I know someone whose parents are Greek and German respectively and he had to choose which nationality he wanted to be as her couldn't be joint German nationality with another country.

It may have changed more recently because he's an adult now but worth checking the rules.

The baby will need a passport to travel in and out of the Schengen area.

S/he'll have a German birth certificate, and you can use that either to apply for a German passport whilst you're there or make an application for a British passport from overseas info here

Thank you guys!
A baby born to a German/British parent can have both and won't have to chose. If I would want to apply for a British passport however I would have to give up German nationality.
What meditrina said is exactly what I would want to do - get the German passport as long as I'm there and then apply for the British passport as soon as we're back in the UK. Thanks for your help!!

Was the UK father born in UK? If not, he may not be able to pass on UK citizenship to a child born in Germany. Child born in Germany will (usually)be a british citizen by descent and may not be able to pass on citizenship to her children born outside Uk.
German citizenship is better than UK citizenship as it is based on jus sanguis. So germans can pass on their citizenship - and with it the right of abode in EU (including UK) for generations - irrespective of where their children are born, while Brits cannot. So a third/fourth/fifth generation Russian German can legally come and work in Britain while his "British" counterpart cannot as he would have lost entitlement. Something very wrong about that!

Thanks for your answer. Yes, he was born here.
That's one of the reasons we want our kids to have both passports. And of course with all the talk about UK leaving the EU.... It's not only a sentimental value for us (me), it's a very rational decision to make when you have the option to do so.

Hello, we are British / German and live in Germany. I'm British and DH is German.
I had both my babies here. If I had a choice to do it all over again and choose where to have my children (I also find the system good until they finish kindergarten) and their early years; I would pick Germany.

For a passport for baby you would probably both need to be present, especially if you're not resident in Germany.
If you're not married, would you need the Vaterschaftsannerkentnisse (sp?) for a passport sorry, can't remember if you said you're married or not..

You can get a Kinder reisepass for about 12/15€ from the local Einwohnermeldeamt. They make it for you there and then, you only need a picture and appropriate documents.

The kinder reisepass is only valid for travel within Europe. The more expensive version is about 40€ and takes a few weeks. It has to be sent away to be authorised and made etc etc.

Thank you MrsNutella.
Yes I remember the Kinder Reisepass :-)
We will hopefully be married by then, and even if not, his name will be on the birth certificate and also on a Vaterschaftsanerkennungsurkunde (if needed.) and he would be in Germany with me. The only thing that makes me wonder now is that we are not registered with the local Einwohnermeldeamt as we don't have a dual residency so I'd have to find out beforehand if they can give me the Reisepass at all with just the Geburtsurkunde. Worst case I guess is that I register there for a few weeks, there's no such thing as an 'Abmeldebestätigung' wenn you move within the UK, you just change your council tax right? God this is a lot more difficult than I had hoped but I'm sure it's worth it.

The other problem (sorry, I've just remembered) you might have is getting the Geburtsurkunde. We had a fair wait for them because of the nationality "issues". It was quite ridiculous.
I can ask DH about it - I can't really remember what they said he wait would be but DH sorted it by getting a journalist interested. It might be worth contacting what will be your local amt to find out how long a delay you might need to expect. And they'll also hopefully help with other questions so that you can be properly prepared
Or send me a pm and if I can be of further I'm happy to try.

"If I would want to apply for a British passport however I would have to give up German nationality."

Really? I though the law was changed about a decade ago to allow both. I'm a British and German national and only got German nationality recently. I don't think it's different the other way round, is it?

"I know someone whose parents are Greek and German respectively and he had to choose which nationality he wanted to be as her couldn't be joint German nationality with another country." AFAIK that's due to restrictions imposed by the Greek government, not the Germans. The Germans are fine with joint EU British/German nationality.

"I just trust the German care system more" Very sensible too.

By the way, if you're not married by that point it absolutely makes sense to apply for the Vaterschaftsanerkennung while you're still pregnant, which would mean you can go ahead and apply for passports as soon after the birth as possible.

As a British mother, I had no problem getting British citizenship for my two DC born in Germany - but because my DC have always lived in Germany they're now British citizens by descent, and can't pass on that citizenship to their own children. In order to overcome this, I believe your children must live in the UK for at least three years before they turn 18, then they would qualify.

The baby could use either a Kinderreisepass OR a Kinderausweis to travel to the UK, so go for whichever can be issued quicker and easier by your local Bürgeramt.

"The only thing that makes me wonder now is that we are not registered with the local Einwohnermeldeamt" Can't you just register temporarily wherever you're staying while you have the baby?

Oh, and a lot of airlines have strict rules about how late they will carry pregnant women, so you'd need to plan that carefully beforehand. Obviously they want to minimise the risk that you'll go into labour in the air.

My dad is in local politics and has many contacts so I'm not too worried about how fast a Geburtsurkunde could be sorted, but we will make contact when I'm pregnant and it's easier to plan ahead.
I'm sorry, I don't know how to quote on here especially using the iPhone.... I think it does make a difference if you're born British and apply for German nationality or the other way around. It's ridiculous really. I just don't want to give up my roots of that makes sense.
Yes that was my thought to register at the Einwohnermeldeamt for as long as I'm there and live with my parents.
I'm actually planning not to fly to Germany but fly my (midwife) sister to the UK a few weeks before due date and then drive to Germany with her (approx. 10 hours where my family lives so I think is manageable).