Dual citizenship with Germany: what you need to know

It is the first question most people ask: will I have to give up the passport I have? The answer depends entirely on the legal basis on which German citizenship arrives.

By descent, there is nothing to give up

If you acquire German nationality by descent under § 4 StAG, you were German from birth. Recognition of citizenship does not grant you anything new; it establishes what was already the case. There is no renunciation requirement, because there is no moment of acquisition to attach one to. A child born in the United States to a German parent ordinarily holds both nationalities from the first day.

The same is true of the reparation routes: restoration under Article 116 (2) of the Basic Law and naturalization under §§ 5 and 15 StAG do not require giving up another nationality.

Why Germany was historically restrictive

German nationality law long treated multiple nationality as something to avoid, on the theory that a citizen should have one clear allegiance. That view has softened considerably, both because of European integration and because Germany has come to see the descendants of its emigrants as a connection worth keeping rather than a complication. The naturalization rules were substantially liberalized in 2024.

Two points of caution, because this is where general articles tend to overpromise. First, the position of a German citizen who voluntarily acquires a further nationality later in life is a separate question with its own rules, and it has changed in recent years; it should be checked against the law in force at the time, not against an article. Second, whether your country lets you hold two passports is a question of your country's law, and Germany has nothing to say about it.

What German citizenship actually gives you

• The right to live, work and study in Germany and in every other member state of the European Union.
• Access to German consular protection anywhere in the world.
• Full political rights in Germany, including the vote.
• The ability to pass German nationality to your own children, subject to the generation cut in § 4 (4) StAG where the parent was born abroad after 31 December 1999.

Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in 2011. Obligations under the law of your other country are, again, a matter for that country.

Three things people get wrong

• “Germany never allows dual citizenship.” Incorrect. By descent it is the normal outcome.
• “Claiming German citizenship will cost me my current nationality.” That depends on your other country's law, not on German law, and for most countries it does not.
• “Dual nationality is not allowed in the EU.” Incorrect. Most member states permit it.