How hard is it to get German citizenship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am looking into different avenues for citizenship. DH was born to a mom who was burn under nazi germany. Left after the war. Could he get citizenship for himself and our kids through that line?

I am looking at getting citizenship through the country where I was born. However I would have to renounce my American citizenship if I did that.

Not sure if I could get my kids citizenship through my country but will also look at that.

However husband and wife would have different citizenship. Good or bad?

“Burned under nazi germany” is a terrible way to phrase this. If she was Jewish and a German citizen your husband and children can get citizenship. This doesn’t extend to the spouse.

There is a chance this was a typo or autocorrection. OP didn't use past tense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The last time I checked, the parent had to still be a German citizen at the time of the birth. My DH similarly had parents born in Germany but they became US citizens before he was born, and I guess gave up their German citizenship.

I don't think this is entirely true if you are Jewish. There are special rules for that. I know someone whose grandmother was Jewish and whose father (her son) was born during Nazi Germany. They moved to the US post war. He is applying for citizenship and seems to think he will get it. But there are some intricate rules about which dates, etc. It'a pretty case by case.

So OP yes your husband might have a shot at German citizenship and if so your kids would too.

I would not give up your American citizenship

Any German citizen (and their descendants) who was persecuted by the Nazis has a claim to German citizenship. Austria has a similar path. Definitely check the subreddits, they are very helpful and full of information. The rules for persecutees (who needn't be Jewish) are completely separate from the ordinary rules for citizenship by descent, so make sure you are researching the correct path for you.

DP. I feel like OP would have mentioned her MIL being in a persecuted group if it was the case? Jews were stripped of their citizenship in 1935. Two-thirds then emigrated. Of the remainder, 84% were exterminated either in camps or by the Einsatzgruppen. There are very few plausible avenues where the young child of parents in a persecuted group would have survived the entire war and left Germany only afterwards, sans a very intense story of being hidden or living under pretexts that OP should be privy to and would have presumably included in her post.

I don’t know OP’s history, and many people are reading this for whom the information may be relevant. For Germany, the law restores citizenship to victims of Nazi persecution between 1933-1945. Victims didn’t have to die, they may have fled or been deported. It’s not limited to Jews or camp survivors and their descendants. For Austria, the time is 1933-1955, and for an idea of the scope you can see direct from the Austrian government below. I don’t know why you’re so fussed about people having access to this information.

https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/austrian-consulate-general-new-york/service-for-citizens/citizenship-for-persecuted-persons-and-their-direct-descendants

OP says her MIL left after the war, so clearly she didn't flee or get deported during it. And it would have been extremely unusual for someone in a persecuted group to live out the entire war in Germany and leave only after, not having been killed or deported or having to flee or go into hiding in that time and for OP not to mention this. Odds are higher that they were not in a persecuted group and left after the war because Germany was a literal wreck.

And PP, I'm sure OP meant "born" under Nazi Germany, not burn. Typo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The last time I checked, the parent had to still be a German citizen at the time of the birth. My DH similarly had parents born in Germany but they became US citizens before he was born, and I guess gave up their German citizenship.

I don't think this is entirely true if you are Jewish. There are special rules for that. I know someone whose grandmother was Jewish and whose father (her son) was born during Nazi Germany. They moved to the US post war. He is applying for citizenship and seems to think he will get it. But there are some intricate rules about which dates, etc. It'a pretty case by case.

So OP yes your husband might have a shot at German citizenship and if so your kids would too.

I would not give up your American citizenship

Any German citizen (and their descendants) who was persecuted by the Nazis has a claim to German citizenship. Austria has a similar path. Definitely check the subreddits, they are very helpful and full of information. The rules for persecutees (who needn't be Jewish) are completely separate from the ordinary rules for citizenship by descent, so make sure you are researching the correct path for you.

DP. I feel like OP would have mentioned her MIL being in a persecuted group if it was the case? Jews were stripped of their citizenship in 1935. Two-thirds then emigrated. Of the remainder, 84% were exterminated either in camps or by the Einsatzgruppen. There are very few plausible avenues where the young child of parents in a persecuted group would have survived the entire war and left Germany only afterwards, sans a very intense story of being hidden or living under pretexts that OP should be privy to and would have presumably included in her post.

I don’t know OP’s history, and many people are reading this for whom the information may be relevant. For Germany, the law restores citizenship to victims of Nazi persecution between 1933-1945. Victims didn’t have to die, they may have fled or been deported. It’s not limited to Jews or camp survivors and their descendants. For Austria, the time is 1933-1955, and for an idea of the scope you can see direct from the Austrian government below. I don’t know why you’re so fussed about people having access to this information.

https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/austrian-consulate-general-new-york/service-for-citizens/citizenship-for-persecuted-persons-and-their-direct-descendants

OP says her MIL left after the war, so clearly she didn't flee or get deported during it. And it would have been extremely unusual for someone in a persecuted group to live out the entire war in Germany and leave only after, not having been killed or deported or having to flee or go into hiding in that time and for OP not to mention this. Odds are higher that they were not in a persecuted group and left after the war because Germany was a literal wreck.

And PP, I'm sure OP meant "born" under Nazi Germany, not burn. Typo.

Many victims remained in DP camps for years after the war. Again it’s very weird that you keep arguing against the history of Nazi persecution in Austria and Germany and the citizenship avenues created for persecutees and their descendants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look for German genealogy sites. They might have information on obtaining citizenship.

What about having a great-grandmother who was German but came over before age 18?

[Anonymous]

Just a consideration OP—I was actively pursing German citizenship for myself and my teenaged sons and I’ve put it on hold due to all the uncertainty right now. It’d be a nightmare to get citizenship then have my kids drafted into the German military to fight Russia.

[Anonymous]

I spend a lot of time in Germany. All the same existential cultural fears as in the US. Deep unhappiness around politics and migration issues. Plus lower salaries. Grass isn't always greener on other side of fence.

[Anonymous]

Just a warning that German bureaucracy is as rigid as the stereotypes suggest. We are pursuing this, but don’t plan to move to Germany for the reasons suggested—many of the same negative cultural problems in the USA (some worse), plus the general difficulty of integration.

[Anonymous]

OP, near as I can tell, it all depends on whether your husband's mother naturalized as a US citizen before your father was born, or after.

If she naturalized before your father was born, she was unable to pass on her German Citizenship to your father.

If she naturalized after your father was born, then her German citizenship was passed on to him. However at the time, citizenship didn't pass through the female line. That only changed as per German law at some point. I'm not very familiar with the German citizenship laws as I have been immersing myself in Italian citizenship laws.

However I do think if you are tracing ancestry through a female in the early or middle part of the 1900s there is a case that can be made that the mother's inability to pass her citizenship on to a child was sexist, basically.

https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/citizenship/#wiki_outcome_3

[Anonymous]

OP - contact this company https://polaron.com.au/eu-citizenship/

They will do a free consultation with you and let you know if your application will be successful. If the answer is yes, it will cost you - $7k for us. Sure, we could have tried to figure it out ourselves, but we had the funds to throw money at the problem and did. You still have to gather a lot of documentation/proof, they don't do that for you, just walk you through the process. We are now waiting on the German bureaucracy (up to 22 months in total), assuming there's no change to the process during that time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a consideration OP—I was actively pursing German citizenship for myself and my teenaged sons and I’ve put it on hold due to all the uncertainty right now. It’d be a nightmare to get citizenship then have my kids drafted into the German military to fight Russia.

Seriously! That's what American kids are for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a consideration OP—I was actively pursing German citizenship for myself and my teenaged sons and I’ve put it on hold due to all the uncertainty right now. It’d be a nightmare to get citizenship then have my kids drafted into the German military to fight Russia.

Germany just re-instated the draft into the German military for all males at age 18.