By Christine Stenner, German Attorney in the United States at Stenner Law| Foreign Legal Consultant (PA) | September 26, 2026
If you follow the political discussions in Germany, you may have noticed that the topic of dual citizenship comes up occasionally, particularly when immigration is being discussed.
Several of my clients have reached out to me because they are concerned that changes to Germany’s dual citizenship laws could cause their pending applications to fail or even result in them losing German citizenship again after they have acquired it.
These concerns are understandable, but they are often based on headlines that do not explain which part of German citizenship law is actually being discussed.
To understand what these political discussions mean for German Americans, it is important to distinguish between two fundamentally different routes to German citizenship.
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German Citizenship Based on Descent, Restoration, or Restitution
The first route is based on a person’s own German citizenship, German ancestry, or a historical right to German citizenship.
This is the category into which most of my clients in the United States fall.
You May Have Been German All Along
Some people do not actually need to become German citizens. They have been German citizens all along.
German citizenship is generally acquired at birth when a parent is a German citizen. Whether citizenship was transmitted in a particular historical case depends on the law in effect at the time of each birth.
For German Americans, this often means tracing the family history from a German ancestor through each generation.
One of the most important questions is whether and when the German ancestor became a U.S. citizen. If German citizenship was still held when the next generation was born, and the requirements for transmission under the law at that time were satisfied, German citizenship may have passed to the child. The same analysis then continues through each subsequent generation.
If that chain was never broken, a descendant living in the United States today may already be a German citizen, even if that person has never held a German passport.
In such a case, a citizenship determination, or Feststellungsverfahren, does not naturalize that person as a German citizen. It confirms a citizenship status that already exists.
German-American Dual Citizenship Did Not Begin in 2024
This point is particularly important in the current political discussion.
Germany did not suddenly begin allowing all forms of dual citizenship in 2024.
Consider a classic German-American example. A child is born in the United States to a German parent. The child acquires U.S. citizenship automatically under U.S. law because the child is born in the United States. If the requirements of German law are met, the child also acquires German citizenship automatically by descent.
That child has two citizenships from birth and Germany has long permitted this form of dual citizenship.
The person can remain a dual citizen.
Correcting Historical Gender Discrimination: § 5 StAG
There is another important group of German Americans whose families encountered a very different problem.
Historically, German citizenship law did not treat German men and German women equally when transmitting citizenship to their children.
For example, for many years a German mother married to a foreign citizen could not transmit German citizenship to her child in the same way a German father could.
For certain people born on or after May 23, 1949, and their descendants, Germany created a remedy through § 5 of the German Citizenship Act (StAG). Eligible individuals can acquire German citizenship by declaration.
The timing is important.
The law creating this declaration procedure was enacted in 2021, three years before Germany’s broader 2024 reform of its citizenship laws.
In other words, § 5 StAG was not created by the 2024 liberalization of dual citizenship. It is a separate legal remedy designed to correct historical gender discrimination in German citizenship law.
The declaration procedure is also time-limited. The statutory right exists for ten years following the law’s entry into force, meaning eligible applicants must make their declaration by August 19, 2031.
Restoration and Restitution After Nazi Persecution
A further category involves restoration and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants.
Some people were German citizens and were stripped of their German citizenship because of Nazi persecution.
Others or their ancestors could have become German citizens but were prevented from doing so because of persecution.
Depending on the circumstances, these cases may fall under Article 116(2) of the German Constitution or § 15 StAG.
Again, these are not ordinary immigration cases.
Citizenship by descent, § 5 declarations, and restoration or restitution cases have different legal requirements. But they have something fundamental in common: the claim to German citizenship arises from the applicant’s own German citizenship, a German citizen ancestor, or a historical connection to German citizenship that German law recognizes or restores.
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German Citizenship Through Immigration and Naturalization
Now compare this with the second route.
A person who immigrates to Germany may have never been a German citizen and may have no German citizen in the family line through whom citizenship can be claimed.
That person moves to Germany, establishes a life there and, after meeting the statutory requirements, applies to become a German citizen through naturalization.
This is fundamentally different from discovering that you have been German since birth, correcting historical gender discrimination in your family line, or restoring citizenship because of Nazi persecution.
And this distinction is essential to understanding the political debate.
Could German Citizenship Law Change?
Of course.
Citizenship law is legislation, and legislation can be amended. German citizenship law has changed many times throughout its history. However, changes in the law generally operate prospectively. Under the German constitutional principle prohibiting retroactive legislation, the Rückwirkungsverbot, the legislature generally cannot simply change the legal consequences of events that were already completed under the law in effect at the time.
This distinction is particularly important in citizenship law. A change to the requirements for acquiring German citizenship in the future is very different from retroactively undoing citizenship that a person already acquired under the law applicable at the time.
There is also an important constitutional protection for people who already possess German citizenship. Article 16(1) of the German Constitution, the Grundgesetz, provides that German citizenship may not simply be taken away. A loss of German citizenship may occur only on the basis of a law, and against the person’s will only if the person does not become stateless as a result.
This protection has a very important historical background. During the Nazi era, German citizenship was taken away from people, particularly Jews and political opponents. The strong protection of citizenship in Article 16 of the postwar German Constitution must be understood against that history.
There is therefore an important distinction between changing the requirements for acquiring or transmitting German citizenship in the future and taking German citizenship away from someone who already has it.
German citizenship law can, for example, regulate whether citizenship passes to a future generation. One example particularly relevant to German citizens living abroad is the so-called Generationenschnitt under § 4(4) StAG. Under certain circumstances, a German citizen who was born abroad after December 31, 1999 and has their habitual residence abroad does not automatically transmit German citizenship to a child who is also born abroad unless the required application to register the birth is made within the statutory period.
The Generationenschnitt, however, does not take German citizenship away from the German parent. It regulates whether German citizenship is transmitted to the next generation in the first place.
To summarize: You have to look at what is actually being proposed, which statutory provision would be affected, and which group of people the proposal would apply to.
Don’t Fall for the Headlines. Check the Facts.
Citizenship and immigration are politically charged subjects. Headlines are written to attract attention, and complicated legal questions are often reduced to a few dramatic words.
Check the facts and read my blog posts.
I closely follow developments in German citizenship law and, in particular, what those developments mean for German Americans and their descendants. When a proposed or enacted change actually affects citizenship by descent, declaration, restoration, or restitution, I will explain it here.
At STENNER LAW, we focus on German citizenship law and assist clients throughout the United States with German citizenship by descent, declaration, restoration and restitution cases.
At Stenner Law, we are specialists in German citizenship for Americans with German roots. We speak both German and English, and we have lived in both countries, which means we understand not only the legal side of these cases but also the practical work of tracking down old documents on both sides of the Atlantic. If you think you may qualify, the fastest way to find out is to complete our pre-consultation screening questionnaire. Your answers help us determine whether a consultation with German attorney Christine Stenner is the right next step for your case.
You can also reach us at office@stennerlaw.com
Or call our office at (215) 770-9488
We will review the information and let you know whether your case appears to meet the basic requirements for a consultation.
About the author
Christine Stenner is a German attorney with 30 years of experience. She is admitted to practice German law in the United States and focuses exclusively on German citizenship law for clients living in the United States. At STENNER LAW, she assists applicants with restoring or reclaiming German citizenship through declaration, re-naturalization, and restitution-based applications.
