If you have read our blog entry on the acquisition of German citizenship by Declaration  you will know that under certain circumstances the child of a formerly German mother who lost her citizenship by marriage to a foreign national can receive their German citizenship by declaration.

If you have not read it yet, you can find it here.

We would like to give you some more in depth information to help you determine whether this could apply to you.

As per General rule, a German woman who married a foreign national before 23.05.1949 automatically lost her German citizenship. So if you are a descendant of such a woman, are absolutely eligible to receive your German nationality under § 5 of the Nationality Act.

It becomes a bit tricky if said German woman married a foreign national between 23.05.1949 and 31.03.1953. These interim regulations determined that a German woman marrying a foreign national would only lose her German nationality, if said loss would not leave her stateless. That would for instance be the case, if she married a stateless person. In any other case, German citizenship was maintained despite the marriage to a foreign national.

To give you an example: German woman A marries British man B on 01.06.1949. As under the British Nationality Act (1948) she would not have automatically received British citizenship upon marriage, had her German citizenship now been lost, she would have ended up stateless, which is precisely what the law at the time wanted to avoid.

However, if said (still) German woman then proceeds to apply to be registered as a UK national for example, even if only a few days after said marriage, and is then indeed registered as a British national – this is the moment her German citizenship is lost. Not due to the marriage but due to the application for and receipt of a foreign nationality.

Sadly, said loss of citizenship is final.

There are a few exemptions to this rule:

1. The German woman, prior to being registered as UK (or other) national, received a permit to retain her German citizenship via the relevant German embassy or consulate at her place of residence, or
2. The German woman, at the time of applying for and being registered as a UK (or other) national, had her ordinary and registered place of residence in Germany and applied for the foreign citizenship via the local embassy or consulate oft the country of the new citizenship. Whether she then, once foreign nationality was obtained, gives up her place of residence, is irrelevant.
3. The foreign citizenship was not received following a petition or application to be registered or naturalized but was automatically bestowed or even forced upon the woman under the laws of the country of the foreign national spouse.

Since 31.03.1953, marrying a foreign national does not cause a German woman to lose her German citizenship anymore so if lost, it is because she naturalized in a foreign country.

Because of the above, we ask clients to fill in an evaluation form and provide us with the family history and specific dates, so that we, in our free initial consultation, can help establish whether you could be eligible to receive your German citizenship by declaration.

Feel free to reach out to us at any time, we are happy to help!