Does Germany Allow Dual Citizenship? 2024 Reform and How to Apply

Yes, Germany does allow dual citizenship. Since June 27, 2024, anyone who naturalizes as a German can keep their original nationality, and Germans who take on a foreign passport no longer lose their German one. The Act to Modernize Nationality Law made dual, and even multiple, citizenship a routine outcome rather than something requiring special permission.

What Changed on June 27, 2024

Before the reform, German law strongly discouraged holding more than one passport. Foreigners applying for German citizenship generally had to renounce their previous nationality. Germans who voluntarily acquired another country’s citizenship lost their German nationality automatically unless they had obtained advance permission to keep it. And children born in Germany to foreign parents who ended up with two nationalities were forced to pick one by age 23.

The 2024 law eliminated all three restrictions at once.¹ Naturalization applicants now keep their existing citizenship. Germans can freely acquire any foreign nationality. And the “option obligation” for dual-national children born in Germany no longer exists.²

If You Are German and Want a Second Passport

If you already hold German citizenship and want to naturalize somewhere else, your German passport is no longer at risk. The old rule that automatically stripped Germans of their nationality when they voluntarily took another has been abolished, along with the retention permit that used to be the only workaround.¹

A German citizen living in the United States, for example, can now go through the U.S. naturalization process and keep German nationality intact. The same holds for any country. No advance application, no retention permit, no notification.²

If You Are Foreign and Want to Naturalize in Germany

If you live in Germany and want to become German while keeping your original citizenship, the reform makes that the default rather than the exception. Section 10 of the Nationality Act sets the main conditions. The standard path requires five years of lawful ordinary residence, shortened from eight under the old law.³ On top of the residency period, you must:

Support yourself and any dependents without drawing benefits under Book Two or Book Twelve of the Social Code.³
Demonstrate at least B1-level German.
Affirm your commitment to the free democratic constitutional order of the Basic Law and declare that you have never pursued or supported activities aimed at undermining it.³
Declare your commitment to Germany’s special historical responsibility for the National Socialist regime and its consequences, including the protection of Jewish life and the prohibition on wars of aggression. This declaration was added by the 2024 reform.³
Pass the “Life in Germany” test, which covers the legal system, history, and social structure.
Hold a permanent residence permit or an EU Blue Card. Certain temporary permits issued for education, humanitarian protection, or short-term purposes do not qualify.³

None of these conditions ask you to give up your existing citizenship. That is the central change. You go through the same process; you walk out holding two passports.

A criminal record does not automatically disqualify you, but the thresholds are narrow. Under Section 12a, authorities disregard fines of up to 90 daily rates and suspended prison sentences of up to three months that were later remitted. Multiple convictions are added together. Offenses committed out of antisemitic, racist, xenophobic, or other inhumane motives are never disregarded, even when the sentence would otherwise fall below those limits.

The Three-Year Accelerated Path

Applicants with exceptional integration can qualify after three years of residence instead of five. All of the following must apply at the same time:³

Outstanding achievement in school, vocational training, or your occupation, or significant civic or volunteer work.
C1-level German, a full step above the standard B1 requirement.
All standard requirements met, including financial self-sufficiency and the constitutional commitments.

The higher language level alone is not enough, and neither is a strong community record with weaker language skills. You need both.

Children Born in Germany to Foreign Parents

Germany grants citizenship at birth to children born on its territory even when neither parent is German, provided at least one parent has lawfully lived in Germany for at least five years and holds a permanent residence permit.³ The child receives German citizenship automatically alongside whatever nationality is inherited from the parents’ home country.

Two old restrictions have been lifted. The parental residency threshold dropped from eight years to five, and the option obligation is gone. Children who acquire dual nationality at birth this way keep both citizenships permanently and never have to declare a preference.²

Germans Having Children Abroad

A child born to at least one German parent normally becomes a German citizen automatically, regardless of where the birth takes place, alongside whatever nationality comes from the other parent or the country of birth. There is one important trap. If the German parent was themselves born abroad after December 31, 1999, and lives outside Germany when the child is born, the child does not acquire German citizenship automatically unless the birth is registered with a German consulate or registry office within one year.³ Miss the deadline, and the child may not receive German citizenship at all. The only automatic exception is a child who would otherwise be stateless.⁴

The rule is designed to stop German citizenship from passing indefinitely through generations with no real connection to the country. If you were born outside Germany and have a child abroad, register the birth right away rather than assuming citizenship transfers on its own.

How Dual Citizens Can Still Lose German Nationality

Holding two passports does not mean the German one is untouchable. A few situations still trigger loss, and they survived the 2024 reform.

The most common risk for dual citizens abroad is foreign military service. Voluntarily enlisting in the armed forces of another country whose citizenship you hold, without prior consent from the German Federal Ministry of Defence, causes automatic loss of German citizenship.³ Blanket consent has been granted for EU member states, NATO countries, and several others including the United States. A dual German-American citizen joining the U.S. military does not risk German nationality, provided service began after July 6, 2011.⁵

Active participation in fighting for a terrorist organization abroad also causes automatic loss, as does adoption by a non-German if the adoption simultaneously ends the legal relationship with the German parent and confers the adoptive parent’s nationality.³ Dual citizens can also formally renounce German nationality by declaration at any time.⁵

Naturalization obtained through fraud, deliberate misrepresentation, or bribery can be revoked for up to ten years after it was granted, provided the misrepresentation was material to the decision and the conduct was intentional. After ten years, that avenue closes.

1
Federal Foreign Office. The New Nationality Law as of 27 June 2024
2
Federal Foreign Office. Germany’s Nationality Law – Significant Changes
3
Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. Nationality Act
4
Federal Foreign Office. Citizenship
5
Federal Foreign Office. Loss of German Citizenship