German passport through great-grandfather!?
Hello all!
I am in a similar situation. My great grandfather was born in 1880s in Germany. He went to the United States at age 16. He was never naturalized as a US citizen, and he died still being German. None of his descendants were naturalized in any other country, as they were natural born citizens...
Prior to great-grandpa's death, he and his wife had a son, my grandfather born during World War I. He then had a child, my parent, who had me. I am born in the 1980's.
I believe that because my great grandfather never gave up his citizenship, he must have transferred it to my grandfather at birth. I have US Census data from 1920 indicating that grandpa was born already, and GreatGrandpa is still alien resident German.
Because of his Germanness, greatgrandpa was exempt from the draft in WWI and never did US military service or any other act that would make him lose his German citizenship. My grandfather had illness, and never served in WWII, as he was also exempt from the draft.
If indeed my grandpa would be German due to this jus sanguinis (right of blood), am I correct to believe that he would then have transferred it to my parent at birth, who then transferred German citizenship on to me?? Although it has been a long time, is there any limit to how far back jus sanguinis can go??
What do you guys think!?!