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dual citizenship

14 replies

michaelad · 16/04/2007 11:55

here we go..

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michaelad · 16/04/2007 11:58

I am German, dh is british, both of our children were born in England. I have been living here for 5 years now. Can I apply for British citizenship? There seems to be conflicting information on this..

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LaCerbiatta · 16/04/2007 13:21

Your children could have british citizenship because of dh, in my acse both me and dh are portuguese

LaCerbiatta · 16/04/2007 13:24

Will look for a link, I got this information from the home office. I spoke to them on the phone and cotacted them by post so am pretty sure. We were bery desperate at the time because we needed a passport for dd to go home for xmas (she was born in november) and a british one would have been so much quicker than going to the portuguese consulate.

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frogs · 16/04/2007 13:36

You can, but it will almost certainly mean giving up your German citizenship. The Germans are very weird about dual nationality -- I think they see dual nationals as a potentially dangerous fifth column. My mum has never applied for UK citizenship for precisely this reason (my dad is English). She still has her German passport and there's no real disadvantage apart from not being able to vote in UK general elections, and occasional trips to Belgrave Square to get her passsport updated/renewed.

There are circumstances in which you can have dual nationality despite Germans frequently and confidently telling me it is not possible, I have German and British passports (legally!). Your children would almost certainly be entitled to dual nationality, though might have to opt for one nationality or the other at 18 I think the legislation has changed since I was a child. The Germans really don't like it though -- I've had some very strange reactions on the odd occasion when officialdom has realised my circumstances. Sample quote: "Ja, wie denken Sie sich das denn, dass sie die Vorteile der deutschen Staatsbürgerschaft geniessen und sich ihre Pflichten entziehen wollen?" (this was in the course of a discussion about a GCSE certificate, just to put you in the picture...).

Tbh, in these days of EU, there's not really much point in having dual citizenship of two member states, although it has occasionally been useful for me to have two passports (travelling on one while the other was elsewhere having a visa application processed, that sort of thing). I did look at getting German citizenship for the children when dd1 was born, but frankly after half an hour perusing the paperwork required (beglaubigte this that and the next, amtlich anerkannte pi pa po) I'd lost the will to live, shoved it all in a drawer and forgot about it.

sfxmum · 16/04/2007 13:39

hi tugamommy i am considering changing nationality just on the grounds of having to deal with that dreaded consulate but that is just me i guess

most EU countries are weird about dual citizenship

frogs · 16/04/2007 13:44

The UK are very relaxed about it -- I even know someone with three passports (UK, Eire and somewhere else, possibly South Africa). It's the other end you need to check. And if you have dses, think about possible implications for military service.

Gracelo · 16/04/2007 13:52

You don't automatically loose German citizenship. Germany grants dual citizenship when there are special circumstances.
When I looked into this for my daughter (who can claim three citizenships) I was told not to worry because "we won't tell the Germans about it"

Frogs, I felt like that after I tried to get married in Germany to dp (NZ/British). One look at the required paperwork and I just couldn't be bothered anymore.

geekgrrl · 16/04/2007 14:00

be warned that it can be quite complicated (and I decided to just keep my German citizenship as it wasn't worth the hassle) -even though I have been in the UK since I was 17 (am now nearly 31, married dh who is British 10 years ago) I would need to apply for 'leave to remain' first (oops, don't have this, hope I don't get deported, haha!). Then I would need to provide proof of my 'economic independence' - as I've been a SAHM ever since graduating from uni really, this apparently meant providing dh's payslips... now, dh is self-employed so they actually wanted to see ALL our bank statements for the past 6 years - at this point I decided that there was actually no need to change my citizenship. It is also very expensive - £500 or thereabouts?
Having a German passport is quite handy in that all the children are entered in my passport - a bit less paperwork to take on holiday .

frogs · 16/04/2007 14:01

But as a German adult, applying for British citizenship on the basis of your husband's UK nationality I don't think any special circumstances apply. You could of course just not tell the Germans, but I wouldn't go down that route myself.

The dual nationality thing was introduced in the mid-70s in response to an increasing no. of cases where the foreign-born dads took the children back to their home countries and the wife couldn't do anything because the children would automatically have only the father's nationality. I have a fat file of paperwork relating to my grandfather making the application on behalf of me and my sisters (he didn't trust my dad, lol). I think there are now circumstances where adults can obtain dual citizenship but think it's quite restricted.

frogs · 16/04/2007 14:04

OOh, yes, and if you apply for German nationality on behalf of your children then you better make sure you have named them in accordance with German law, ie. no double-barrelling, and no giving them your dp's surname if you're not married.

There are ways round this, apparently, but tbh I'd stopped reading by that point.

Gracelo · 16/04/2007 14:12

We had no problem with the name. My daughter has my partner's name and the person at the German consulate in Edinburgh accepted this without any hesitation.

frogs · 16/04/2007 15:55

Maybe they've got more used to Englanders and their funny ways in the 10 years since I looked at dd1's paperwork!

michaelad · 16/04/2007 16:21

Sorry, did not get around to having a look at this earlier..
Don't know..have just had to go through the whole "Namenserklaerung" palaver and was told that technically speaking my children are "nameless" under German law since I never made a declaration. That's all sorted now and I will probably apply for German passports for both of them. Hope they do not get drafted when they're 18 although was told that it is highly unlikely...Geman law...snort..

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annasmami · 28/04/2007 18:50

Interesting thread.... Our children actually have 3 passports/nationalities, one of them being German. The German consulate explained to us that dual/triple citizenship is 'legal' under German law if children acquired the German citizenship at birth (which they did, from me, their mother). Not sure if that is correct, but thought I'd mention it.

However, taking this thought further, were they to marry someone with 3 other nationalities, their children would be entitled to 6 passports......?!?!

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