Dual citizenship
March 7, 2012 | 50,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Dr. Danjel-Philippe Newerla
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am the son of a US citizen and a German mother. I have German citizenship. I have been raised exclusively in Germany. I am over 30 years old and would like to have dual citizenship of the US and Germany. My father is listed by name on my birth certificate. For the application, my father (who lives in the USA) wanted to fill out the DS-5507 form (acknowledgment of paternity) and send it to me, but he was told by the American authorities that this form is only valid for a child under 18 years old. Is there still a possibility for me to obtain citizenship through Jus Sanguinis at my age? Can I still obtain dual citizenship?
Best regards,
BF
Dear seeker of advice,
Thank you for your inquiry. I would like to answer it as follows:
There are several ways to obtain dual citizenship.
Firstly, dual citizenship based on descent is possible when parents have different nationalities. In this case, a child can inherit both nationalities from their parents at birth.
However, this does not apply in your case.
Another way to obtain dual citizenship is through the option model. This happens when the principles of birthplace and descent intersect.
For example: If both of your parents are American citizens but you are born in Germany, you would initially have dual citizenship. However, by law, you would need to choose one citizenship by your 23rd birthday.
However, this situation does not apply to you. If I understand correctly, you are a German citizen currently residing in Germany.
In this case, the response from the American authorities is correct in terms of the outcome. Because neither of the exceptions mentioned above apply, Germany tries to avoid dual citizenship by law.
Based on your description, I unfortunately do not see any prospects of success in obtaining an additional citizenship in the form of dual citizenship.
I hope this provides you with some initial legal guidance and wish you all the best!
I would like to point out the following:
The legal advice I have provided is based solely on the information you have provided. My response is only an initial legal assessment and cannot replace a comprehensive evaluation of the situation. Adding or omitting relevant information could lead to a completely different legal assessment.
I hope my explanations have been helpful to you. Feel free to contact me through the follow-up option.
Have a pleasant Wednesday evening!
Kind regards from the North Sea coast,
Dipl.-Jur. Danjel-Philippe Newerla, Attorney at Law
