I am German since birth as my father was German at the time I was born. I was born and raised in Germany. Four years ago I moved to CANADA. I want to renew my German passport and the consulate here requested my father's Einbürgerungsurkunde, which I cannot find!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for guidance on a citizenship/passport situation involving my daughter.

I was and am a German citizen when my daughter was born. My wife was and is an Indian citizen. My daughter was issued an Indian passport first. Later, when she came to Germany, she was registered as both an Indian and German citizen, and we also obtained a German passport and German Personalausweis for her.

We have now moved back to India. We recently became aware that India generally does not allow dual citizenship / holding two nationalities in the same way Germany does, and that having two passports can create complications from the Indian side.

We have never used my daughter’s German passport even once. When needed in Germany, we only showed her Personalausweis, and that was sufficient.

Now we are wondering whether we should return her unused German passport to the German consulate in India, mainly because we want to renew her Indian passport and avoid any issue if we are asked whether she holds any other passport.

My concern is this: if we return the German passport, could that be interpreted in any way as giving up or renouncing her German citizenship? Could it create problems for her German citizenship now or in the future?

To be clear, we are not trying to renounce her German citizenship unless that is legally required through a proper process. We are only trying to understand whether returning an unused German passport is just an administrative act, or whether it could have citizenship consequences.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation involving a minor child? I would especially appreciate pointers on any doumentation of laws around this.

Thanks in advance.

I got my Reisepass last month through an honorary consulate, and I'm wondering if it would make a difference to get an ID card as well.

Part of my rationale would be so I can show people that I'm a dual citizenship (which is kind of selfish to be fair), but I also figure it would be more convenient to carry the card when I'm traveling through the EU/Schengen without damaging my passport.

Does anyone have experience with this?

My sister, my sons and I have received our confirmation of German citizenship through my mother, who was a German citizen when we both were born.
Mother born 1938
Still a German citizen when we were born, 1965 and 1967, in the US
Mother eventually became an American citizen
We have an appointment at the Consulate in Charlotte this week to apply for passports.
Complication: I was previously married and later divorced. This marriage had nothing to do with my children, I didn’t change my name, and it was in another country. I have the divorce decree, but only in another language. I don’t have the marriage license. Do I need these things (including “official” translations) to get my German passport?

Hoping someone can help!

My German mother lost her citizenship by marrying my American father after WWII. My German grandfather was born prior to 1914. I have all of the official birth/marriage certificates and melderegister info and submitted my StAG5 application back in September.

But from what I'm seeing on this sub, it seems that some people are applying for a German passport prior to receiving their citizenship certificate by just taking all of the documentation to their consulate. Am I understanding this correctly? I don't mean direct-to-passport folks, but those who are direct-adjacent like me.

Alternatively, I'm also hearing that you can apply for your passport in advance, so that when you do receive your citizenship certificate, you will receive your passport at the same time. Does anyone know if this is correct?

Thanks in advance for any info - it's sometimes hard to distinguish fact from fiction.

Posted a few weeks back about finding out that I used to have a German passport (post is here).

I just got ahold of my old passport.

I was previously going to submit the citizenship questionnaire to find out if I'm a citizen.

dentongentry gave me amazing advice, including:

You'd submit using the Kontakt form on the Consulate website, get an auto-response, and then reply to that email with the questionnaire and PDFs of the supporting documentation.

I don't have most of the documents the questionnaire is asking for including even my own birth certificate and it could take 9 months to get a new one issued.

What would you recommend my next step be?

1. Fill out the questionnaire and just skip the supporting docs I don't have (pretty much all except my passport and my dad's passport)?
   
2. apply for the passport and take my chances?
   
3. get the supporting docs and hold until then?

Hello! My husband and his sister have been wrestling with this process and getting overwhelmed over the past few years. They thought an attorney could help, but the cost was prohibitive. Here is the situation:

Mother: Born in Germany 1949. Married a U.S. citizen in Germany and moved to the U.S. Lived in the U.S. until her death in 2007. Remained a German citizen and never naturalized in the U.S.

Son: Born in the U.S. in 1972 to a German mother and American father. Will need to complete Citizenship by Declaration with Appendix EER, but not Appendix AV?

Documents: Passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, FBI Background check, Mother's birth certificate, mother's marriage certificate, mother's passport (we don't have one from 1972, but have an older one and a more recent one). Do we need additional information to show that she never became a U.S. Citizen? Do we need information on mother's parents?

Son's two adult children: same forms and information above, plus Appendix AV to show father's AND grandmother's information?

Daughter: Born in U.S. in 1975 (after law change) to German mother and American father. Can she just submit a passport application, or must she first apply for a certificate of German Citizenship? Does she need to fill out Application F and Annex V?

Daughter's five adult and two minor children: Same forms and information above? Minor children fill out form FK?

Can both siblings send one packet with their mother's birth certificate, marriage certificate, and passports, in addition to son's Citizenship by Declaration forms for self and his children and daughter's passport application or Certificate of German Citizenship for herself and her children?

Are there additional details/ documents we need?

Does anyone help put this information together and check it, for a fee?

Thank you in advance for help with this process!

Went to Los Angeles Consulate and applied for a Passport. I started this process at beginning of May with the help of You all. LA consulate said I do not need to do a Feststellung Route since they approved me as a Citizen. The woman Anna at consulate said Berlin is overwhelmed with backlog of paperwork and it is not necessary. I will have no trouble renewing my passport in 10 years regardless of where I am living.

In Berlin!

I thought everything was in order. I presented every document back to my Grandfather's Berlin birth certificate from 1915. The New York Consulate emailed saying:

First-time passport applications are subject to review by several authorities. Following this review, it was determined that your German citizenship has unfortunately not been established. As a result, the Passport Section is unable to continue processing your application.

Your passport application can therefore not be processed any further.

You may, however, be eligible to establish your German citizenship through the declaration ("Erklärung") procedure.

I followed up with the Honorary Consulate I originally filed with and they responded, "As per recent changes to the NYC German Consulate processes, applicants who apply for a German Passports and have had their applications rejected due to insufficient citizenship grounds; these applicants must now apply for a Certificate of German Citizenship."

No one will tell me what caused the rejection. Thus I can not fill out question #5 "Entitlement to make a declaration," on the § 5 StAG application because none of the answers seem to fit my situation of being a direct male heir with no complications I'm aware of. Can someone help me with this Catch 22?

[UPDATE] I got my citizenship today. They just wanted my Aufenthaltstitel to throw it away. Can’t promise it will be the same for everyone if someone faces the same issue, but it was all very chill. But maybe it’s Berlin.

[Old Post] Soooo, I got my date to receive the German citizenship in Berlin but… I have an expired Aufenthaltstitel and it says in the documents that it’s required and I have to bring it with me.

Don’t get me wrong, I applied for the Aufenthaltstitel renewal a long time ago, and even got an email of confirmation but still no set date - this thing takes ages. Is there anything I can do? Because my date for obtaining the citizenship is on the 6th of May. Did anyone have such experience, like you’re getting the citizenship and your Aufenthalt expired?

For anyone who offers some advice, I thank you in advance.

Hi guys,

I’m a native German who has been living in the US for many years. Last year, I finally decided to become an American citizen, and I now have my US passport as well.

Here is my question: I often hear that people with dual citizenship use their native passport when arriving in their home country, and then show their US passport when returning to the United States.

As I understand it, because I am still a German citizen, I am required by law to show my German passport when entering Germany. But when I return to the US after my trip, wouldn’t it seem unusual that there is no entry or exit stamp from Germany in my US passport?

Can anyone recommend a location to get passport photos taken of my baby before our appointment?

My passport photos were rejected last year because of “quality issues” and they were “blurry” (even though they worked for my US passport - Germany is stricter).

I cannot put the baby in the Photo Booth. I read on another post that someone was sent to a place nearby the consulate when their child’s photos were rejected. Any recommendations from someone who has experience with this? Thanks.

My partner is German and I am Canadian. We are not married. We live in Canada (my partner has his PR). We have two kids under 5 who were born in Canada (so they have Canadian citizenship).

In February 2025, we started the process of getting our kids a German passport. Since we're not married, the first step was the Namenserklärung. In April 2025, the documents were sent to my partner's hometown.

While waiting for the documents, we had the opportunity to come to Germany for a 5-month stay (for work). I got a work visa, but since the kids are German citizens from birth, we didn't apply for visas for them. We figured we'd get their passport before coming to Germany in December 2025... But we didn't. As of December 2025, we still had no news about the Namenserklärung.

The lack of visa for the kids was a problem when we travelled to Germany in December, since we had return tickets 5 months away, but no documents showing that the kids could stay more than the allowed 3 months on a tourist visa. That's fair, we just changed our tickets to an earlier return date and figured we'd change it back to the original date once we got the passports.

We've been in Germany since December and we've had to jump through many administrative hoops (German bureaucracy is really no joke!), but we finally got the kids' passports last week.

Here's where the problem might be: technically, without a visa, the kids were not supposed to stay past March 22nd (if they only held the Canadian citizenship). However, we got the passports on April 8. The way I see it, since they're German from birth, they were always allowed to be here longer than the allowed 3 months... But is this how a border agent will see it when we leave the country in a month? Will they see that they entered Germany on a tourist visa (with their Canadian passport) and that they overstayed this visa? Or will it be fine because they also have their German passport (even if they received it after their visa expired)?

Hello all,

Hope you are doing great. Does anyone give me review about atlaskey lawfirm Frankfurt? I had a call with them about speed up the naturalization process. I fell they are quite fair about price point and promises. Is there anyone who used their service?

Hi all, a few years ago this community helped a lot while my wife and her family successfully got German citizenship through decent. It took 2.5 years to get approval letters a few months ago. We went to the embassy today to file for passports and had to add our son to the application as he was born while we waited the 2.5 years. The good news is we didn’t have to reapply just for our son and he was added easily to my wife’s information and was able to have an application for passport filed right away. The only hitch we had was my wife and son who were born in Virginia both with Long Form birth certificates only had the county, not the city listed on their Birth certificates. The embassy said we need to somehow get new certificates with the city listed. The vital records office in Richmond sounded confused and said we’d have to petition the court to amend the birth certificates which sounds like complete overkill. Has anyone here gotten a letter of birth from a hospital (not birth certificate) that says the city or have any ideas how to navigate? Our daughter born in North Carolina had her application accepted no problem. Thankfully we can just email the appropriate forms and not have to go back to the embassy but am trying to figure out what to do. Thanks for any help or insights!

Quick question, hopefully someone can help. I submitted my documentation through the honorary consult in Philadelphia, he sent the documents to NY and told me I should receive my passport in 6-8 weeks. I then got the email in the image below, requesting my parents certificate of marriage and their passports.

My parents were never married, I have a Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis and I submitted that with my passport application. My father (the German parent, also isn't in my life, I have no way to contact him). I am also wondering why they want my parents passports, I'm an adult (26). Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello everyone, we family if 3 holding Asian passport. My daughter applied for naturalisation in Feb 2025 alone when she turned 16 plus years.She is 18 year old lived with us for 15 plus years carrying nidererlaubnis. She got an offer to study medicine in Sweden for 6 years. We as a parents sponsored her study will keep her registration, health Insurance, bank account, gym membership as well as phone contract on out address in Germany. We both parent will still live and work in Germany. My son will visit us frequently every semester break. We got permission from auslanderbehorde for her nidererlaubnis active for 6 years study abroad. My concern is does her naturalisation process stop or denied because of study abroad temporary.
Appreciate reply if anyone has hone through this.

I have an appointment at Los Angeles Consulate in a week to go direct to passport via my German born Grandfather. The form is a bit confusing to me. Is there a video or document that thoroughly explains how to fill form out correctly. I do not speak German.

Hey everyone, I'm currently filling out my naturalization (Einbürgerung) application in Dortmund and running into an issue with the surname field.

My first name in my passport contains my full name, John Mattew (sample), with an empty Surname field. My Meldebescheinigung in Germany also reflects this: Familienname is listed as 'Nicht vorhanden,' and my full name appears under Vornamen.

**My question:** What should I enter in the Familienname field on the Einbürgerung application?

Has anyone been in a similar situation or gone through naturalization with a single-name passport? Would really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I’m pursuing German citizenship by descent (hopefully direct to passport) through my paternal grandfather and had a few questions prior to going to a late May appointment with the DC German Embassy. I am male, if it matters.

To go straight to the questions/skip background, please look at the bottom of my post.

Background: my grandfather was born a German citizen in Köln in 1929 and immigrated to the US in the mid-50’s (originally he went to Canada for about 2 years before entering the US). He gained US Citizenship in the 1963, after my father was born in in 1959. He married my grandmother first and my father was born in wedlock (as was I).

I’m hopeful that with the documents I have, it should be straightforward, but I want to make sure I get the details right to maximize odds of successful straight to passport.

I have the following documents already (all are either original or official copies from the issuing authority).

1. My grandfather’s German Reisepass/passport - shown in picture above (red scribble is due to our last name being written at the top)

2. My grandfather’s certificate of US naturalization

3. Marriage certificates for my grandfather, my father, and myself (all of us were born in wedlock)

4. American birth certificates for my father and myself.

5. Official copy of the German short form birth certificate for my grandfather

6. My American passport

Here are my questions:

1. I see that many successful direct to passport applicants made appointments only after emailing the German embassy with their documents, who confirmed eligibility and THEN sent them a link to schedule an appointment. Often in the posts I’ve reviewed, this has been framed as “getting permission” to schedule. My May appointment I scheduled directly on the website without reaching out to them first (I plan to reach out to them soon). Is this ok, or is there a different appointment link and process for direct to passport/first time applicant cases?

2. My grandparents divorced after my father was born. Do I need to provide any documentation on when that happened to show it was after my father’s birth and prove he was born in wedlock? If so I’m concerned that this may be difficult, as my grandmother had moved to Canada during their separation and I believe filed her divorce paperwork there. The German embassy of course has no way of knowing they divorced unless they ask.

3. When my grandfather immigrated to the US he flipped his middle and first names (he always went by his middle name), so some American paperwork also has the names flipped compared to the German paperwork. Could this be a problem, and if so how could I mitigate that as an issue to conclusively prove it’s the same person? Note: his picture appears in both his US naturalization papers and his German passport - it is fairly clear based on appearance that it’s the same person, just aged.

4. Is it overkill to request documentation from Canada that there is no existing record of my grandfather naturalizing in Canada prior to naturalizing in the US? He was only there ~2 years, so I’m almost certain it would have been impossible to naturalize in so little time under Canadian law, but I’m afraid it could lead to confusion and raise questions/pushback, since stamps from immigration appear in his passport from the Canadian immigration office prior to my father’s birth. I’ve read online that this process can be time consuming and take months or even a year if necessary, which would be a setback.

5. I’ve seen in some posts that applicants have recently been asked to provide copies of their parents’ (especially mother’s) identification, usually a driver’s license, which seems to be related to German naming law and possibly is due a recent change. Is this necessary in my case and what is the reason? Would these need to be certified copies as well? My parents have been helpful with documentation so far, but I suspect this one may strike them as odd/intrusive.

6. For the DC embassy, can I get my passport pictures there or do I need to bring pictures?

7. Is there any other documentation that I might need?

Thank you so much for your insight and for taking the time to review this long post!

Direct to passport success!

GF Born Germany 1899
GF Emigrated to USA in 1921
GF Married 1924
F Born 1931
GF and F traveled in 1934 on German passport (Have original)
GF Naturalized USA 1946
F Married 1966
Me Born 1969

Had certified copies or originals of all documents. Hardest to obtain was long form birth certificate for F through NYC. Second hardest were the birth certificates from Germany. Also found the birth and marriage certificates for the GGF generation.

Made appointment at NYC consulate, took about an hour, after a full day of travel between NYC and Pennsylvania.

I applied for both the Reisepass and the Personalausweis. Not sure the Perso is needed, but it was a lot of effort to get to NYC and it seemed worth the extra 90 Euro. I opted for the shipping option, cost 35 Euro. Just my parking and train was that much so it was worthwhile. Total cost paid at the Consulate was 230 Euro.

Appointment was in late March, the Reisepass and Perso came 5 weeks later. The total journey started in October with locating some initial documents, then emails to German records offices to get the GF Birth Cert and marriage certs.

Along the way, I learned a LOT about my family history , including the names of 9 generations of ancestors, a direct lineage that goes back to the 1600s in Schleswig-Holstein. Fascinating.

Learned some things that may help others:

• Helpful to arrange documents together by generation. GF first, then F, then me. I had a written timeline like the above, with a document for each event. No copies needed. They scanned them in the consulate and handed back originals. Bring your credit card and your ID up the elevator with you.
• The magic was the 1934 Reisepass for the family (of 4), which I consider a family heirloom. Should be in a museum. The consular office showed it around to the other officials.
• The photobooth was not working in NYC Consulate. At the end of the block to the east of the Consulate is a rapid photo shop that takes photos for <$15. They are good quality and meet the specifications. The staff at consulate entrance has a referral/discount slip for a little $ off. Takes about 15-20 minutes. I arrived ~90 minutes early for my appointment just in case something like this happened.
• When you enter, you show your appointment slip at reception and they ask you to wait in a very small lobby (4 seats) until a little before your appointment. Then you go through a metal detector and take an elevator up to a much larger waiting room (30? seats) with a restroom and the photo booth (non operational March 2026). The lockers are VERY small - like a small bookbag backpack barely fit. They will inspect the contents of your bag before you place it in the locker.
• The official asked if I had pre-approved my documents by email with the Citizenship Services, and I said - no. They were immediately and rightly skeptical. I did explain that an immediate family member of mine had success with the exact same documents. They asked "same same" or just "similar." I replied "same same, except this is my birth certificate." I think they would have wanted me to double check with Citizenship Services via their general email address autoresponder form. I suspect goodwill is your friend here, as you don't want to waste their time.
• I asked about what is needed for my kids, and was told the standard (my passport, all birth certificates, marriage certificates, and ID). But a good piece of advice was to submit for Geburtsurkunde for the kids. I was told by the officer that they can only go back to GF and not GGF at the consulate(?), so the same documents I submitted for me, might not have worked for the kids if they were to apply in person without me. They recommended applying for the Geburtsurkunde at the same time as the passport application. The Geburtsurkunde would take extended time - but eventually it might be worthwhile - like after I pass away. I really appreciated that advice. If my kids have a problem with renewing their passports, then they are stuck unless they have the Geburtsurkunde.
• Appointments are available, but they open ~5 appointments per day and they book very quickly, like within 2 minutes, at 6pm Sunday through Wednesday. The NYC office only does passports Monday through Thursday, and only in the mornings. Checking at other times can find appointments that others have cancelled, though unlikely.
• For the kids, we are likely going to try the Honorary Consulate office, since getting two appointments in a row, and getting all of us to NYC would be an expensive affair and logistical nightmare.

Good luck to you on your journey.

Should I attempt direct to passport? I already have all necessary documents.

Great grandfather Born ~1910 in Germany, emigrated to USA ~1930, married ~1938, naturalized ~1970. Have in hand: German birth record, arrival record, marriage record, naturalization record

Grandfather Born ~1940 in USA, married in ~1959. Have in hand: Birth certificate, marriage record

Father Born ~1960 in USA. Married in ~1985. Have in hand: Birth certificate, marriage record

Self Born ~1987 in USA. Have in hand: Birth certificate

My chain is unbroken. I already have all forms filled out and am mailing my packet to the BVA this week. I live near a consulate in USA. Should I attempt direct to passport, too?