German Passport

My fiancee's mother was born in Germany and remained a citizen of Germany until she reached the age of 40. My fiancee was born in 1988 and she speaks English and French fluently (is currently learning German).

Is my fiancee entitled to a German Passport?

If so, how long can she stay in the United Kingdom with this passport? Can she work anywhere within the EU?

Any help is appreciated, thanks

UberKrieger wrote:My fiancee's mother was born in Germany and remained a citizen of Germany until she reached the age of 40. My fiancee was born in 1988 and she speaks English and French fluently (is currently learning German).

Is my fiancee entitled to a German Passport?

Your fiancee's mother stayed German until age 40? What happened at age 40?

And was your fiancee born before this event - or afterwards?

When she reached 40 she changed her citizenship to Canadian as she was living in Canada for a long time before. My fiancee was born whilst her mother was still a German Citizen.

UberKrieger wrote:When she reached 40 she changed her citizenship to Canadian as she was living in Canada for a long time before. My fiancee was born whilst her mother was still a German Citizen.

Your fiancee was automatically a German citizen when she was born (as well as Canadian), as she was born after 1.1.1975, when German mothers were given the right to pass on their nationality.

Although her mother did lose German citizenship upon becoming Canadian, I am not aware of any law that stripped her of German citizenship based on her mother's actions (German law may be different in this circumstance, compared to Denmark, for example).

She cannot assume anything, but should write to the German Embassy explaining the circumstances and asking whether she is a German citizen still. If yes, she can apply for a German passport. If they say no, they should be able to explain why with reference to the law.

This (pdf) page suggests her mother's subsequent loss of German citizenship may not matter:
http://www.toronto.diplo.de/Vertretung/ ... =Daten.pdf


These articles may be useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationality_law
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_S ... %B6rigkeit

With a German passport, she can freely live in the United Kingdom. She would obtain permanent resident status after 5 years, and could apply for British citizenship by naturalisation one year later (unless she was married to a British citizen).

If she wanted to keep her German citizenship upon becoming a British citizen, she would need to apply for permission in advance using a Beibehaltungsgenehmigung.

Thank you for that very helpful reply, I shall be writing a letter to the German embassy on her behalf. The problem is that her real father was under Canadian citizenship at the time he married her mother.

Does this still mean there is a chance she can aquire one?

UberKrieger wrote:Thank you for that very helpful reply, I shall be writing a letter to the German embassy on her behalf. The problem is that her real father was under Canadian citizenship at the time he married her mother.

Does this still mean there is a chance she can aquire one?

If her mother was a German citizen when she was born, and she was born after 1.1.75, then I don't see how the status of her father matters, based on the information available.

Why can't she write to the German Embassy herself? They may not respond to third party inquiries.

And it's not a question of whether she can acquire German citizenship. It is a question of whether she is already a German citizen or not. There is a big difference.

She already has a Canadian passport, doesn't that mean she's already a Canadian citizen? how can you be 2 nationalities at the same time.

If she gains a German passport can she retain her Canadian one?

Should she write to the German Embassy in Ottawa

UberKrieger wrote:She already has a Canadian passport, doesn't that mean she's already a Canadian citizen? how can you be 2 nationalities at the same time.

You can be 2, 3 or more nationalities at the same time if the laws of two or more countries make you a citizen simultaneously.

Each country decides independently who its citizens are. Some countries have no restrictions on their citizens holding dual or multiple citizenship (for example, Canada since 15 February 1977). Some countries won't let their citizens hold any other citizenship (India and Singapore are quite strict). Other countries, including Germany, have some restrictions but not an outright ban.

Lots of people are dual or multiple citizens.

If she gains a German passport can she retain her Canadian one?

Under current law - YES.

Should she write to the German Embassy in Ottawa

If she wants a German passport - YES.

But she ought to read the information already posted on this thread to inform herself beforehand.

You've been a huge help, i'll post back in this topic on the reply she gets from the German Embassy in Ottawa.

I have a few questions left after checking wikipedia,

Her mother was born in Germany in 1961 yet neither of her parents were German so how can her mother get German Nationality?

Her father has German parents although she cannot get in contact with him because he dissapeared when she was a young age.

UberKrieger wrote: Her mother was born in Germany in 1961 yet neither of her parents were German so how can her mother get German Nationality?

Being born in Germany to foreign parents does not make you a German citizen, sorry (except in some cases for children born in 2000 or later).

You said in your first post her mother was a German citizen until age 40. Now you are asking whether her mother was German at all.

With respect you cannot hope to get any kind of meaningful assistance by posting such inconsistent and contradictory information.

Start at the beginning. Was your fiancee's mother ever a German citizen or not? And if she wasn't German, then what country was she a citizen of before she became Canadian at age 40??

JAJ wrote:

UberKrieger wrote: Her mother was born in Germany in 1961 yet neither of her parents were German so how can her mother get German Nationality?

Being born in Germany to foreign parents does not make you a German citizen, sorry (except in some cases for children born in 2000 or later).

You said in your first post her mother was a German citizen until age 40. Now you are asking whether her mother was German at all.

With respect you cannot hope to get any kind of meaningful assistance by posting such inconsistent and contradictory information.

Start at the beginning. Was your fiancee's mother ever a German citizen or not? And if she wasn't German, then what country was she a citizen of before she became Canadian at age 40??

My money is on Russian - this smacks of Soviet Occupancy. 'Der Berliner Mauer' was erected in 1961 funnily enough...

I wonder if her mother got German citizenship like so many russian have now - via this historical event or other wartime eventualities.

I've just been to Hamburg, my gf is Russian, and we reckoned there is about 50% Russian, maybe 25% less the exaggeration factor. but we went to the district of Nettlendorn, 100% Russian, even the flats are the same....

Just a theory!

Sorry about the contradictory information. We're currently going through the process of looking through her mother's documents in order to figure this out. I only just recently read the wiki that stated that her mother could not be a German citizen by law.

A) Her mother was forced to get a Canadian citizenship at the age of 40 because she was denied OHIP for being a German Citizen (Goverment Healthcare)

^This does not make sense to me as they would of contacted her earlier on^


B) Her mother also stated that she has never had a passport, this does not make any sense to me as you need one to enter an overseas country.

^Perhaps she was on her parents passport and then never aquired one of her own afterwards.^

The information above is what lead her to the conclusion that she was a German citizen. I'm going to check her Birth Certificate later on, her father was in the army and perhaps this gave him some kind of right to make her a German citizen at the time.