GUWonder

IIRC, US LPRs may be subject to some US tax jurisdiction for a number of years even after departing the US. Some here may be familiar with the so-called green card exit tax tied to some sort of 8 out 15 years guideline. Just as with US citizens expatriating in such a way as to be subject to an exit tax, much the same for some foreigners who have held US permanent resident status.

When considering acquiring foreign citizenship, some may want to consider what some foreign citizenship may mean for purposes of estate planning. Having some foreign citizenship can at times provide a different angle for potential heirs/claimants to run roughshod over the wishes of the deceased with regard to the assets of the deceased. For example, US citizens who have no foreign citizenship nexus may have an easier time to more readily disinherit children than some US-European dual-citizens.

I take it that it’s still that way for Italy. A fair number of my Argentine friends with Italian grandmothers haven’t been able to get Italian citizenship because of how the laws at the time of their birth or of the parent(s) made it such that the matrilineal line of Italian heritage wasn’t treated the same as the patrilineal line of Italian heritage. Some of them have since acquired European citizenship, but for these friends of mine it tends to be citizenships from countries with Germanic national languages rather than citizenship from Italy; and for most it required migrating and meeting a residence standard.

antichef

It is a very special category as it allows descendants even a few generations down to claim - as the citizenship was denied them by a war crime.
https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/citizen...enship/2463592

Which descendants are entitled to claim restoration of German citizenship?

A descendant born to a parent who was deprived of German citizenship and before the parent's citizenship was restored also has a claim under Article 116 II of the Basic Law.

Each descendant has an individual claim, subject to eligibility. It is thus possible for grandchildren to apply, even if their parents decide not to. Please note however, that children younger than 16 require parental consent. Please see no. 2 and 6 on the application form.

CarlTheWebmaster

In theory I can apply for this as my grandparents left Germany in the late 1930s. When I looked into the process recently, there seemed to be a German language requirement - this link says the requirement was reduced and only requires "basic" German, whatever that means.

antichef

I could not see the requirement for basic German on that link, although the application will be conducted in German. The whole regime was changed and widened in August this year:
https://www.bva.bund.de/EN/Services/...53.intranet672

LondonElite

What must the US agree to?

LondonElite

Sorry, but this is mostly wrong. Someone born in the US to German parents must not renounce US citizenship to have German citizenship, which passes automatically to the child at birth, regardless of location. Also, someone born in Germany to US citizens is not automatically a German citizen.

GUWonder

US citizens are recognized as US citizens unless and until the US agrees to allow the US citizen to be stripped of US citizenship, and that formalization of loss of US citizenship is conditioned upon the willful call of the US citizen. Even a US citizen wanting to surrender US citizenship is not recognized by the US as the person being without US citizenship even on the basis of naturalization abroad conditioned (in the new country of citizenship) upon the person relinquishing other citizenship.

Merely naturalizing in another country doesn’t effect loss of US citizenship.

Germany cannot legally strip a person of German citizenship if it would make the person stateless.

So in practical terms, there is something the US must agree to before an adult US citizen acquiring or holding German citizenship is stripped of either citizenship. Minor US dual-citizens can’t even surrender US citizenship if they and/or their parents were to want that.

fastflyer

.

I meant the grandparent clause/ ancestors. So a natural US citizen by birth and parents are US citizens (naturalized or by birth), but one or more grandparents were German citizens.

LondonElite

My point was that the US doesn't need to agree to anything regarding acquiring a second citizenship, since it doesn’t care about these.

lhrsfo

As part of gaining citizenship, nearly every country requires the applicant to swear some form of allegiance to it. So, if you don't feel any allegiance to Germany, a downside would be that you perjure yourself. Perhaps the entirely self-centered would not regard that as a downside, but most people don't enjoy living a lie, especially when the only gain from this is standing in a different line at the border.

GUWonder

Some countries — including one of the EU countries in which I’ve been this week — have a citizenship application process for qualified applicants whereby if the applicant meets the criteria and has the application reviewed and accepted as meeting the criteria it means the person becomes a citizen even in the absence of any oath of allegiance. Even where/when it’s otherwise, people tend to be allegiant to more than one identity/entity anyway; and so what’s another allegiance along with the other allegiances held.

st8dm

no direct negative impact.
However, please note the OP does not speak German.
For any contact with the German authorities, German language is the one and only mean of communication.
This could be a major impediment, as the two languages are not related by any means.
In large German cities and/or interacting with German embassies, you get by with English, but deep the rabbit hole you go - and you are on your own.

It might serve the OP if frequently traveled in Schengen, which was a breeze before Covid.
However, nowadays most countries have immigration anyway, regardless of destination / including Schengen because of vaccine control (e.g. major airports in Germany).
With no relocation plans, I can't see any other benefits.

mustafina

Er.. German is probably the most closely-related major modern language to English (sorry Frisians). But of course as an English speaker you don't understand German without learning it. If you're going through this process in the US you'll be dealing with the German embassy, so language will not be a problem. And if you planned to live in any foreign country, you'd expect to have to learn at least some of the local language to get by, or quickly find friends who could help!

FWIW a friend recently went through this process, having lost her EU citizenship due to Brexit. She doesn't speak German and doesn't plan to live there, but it certainly makes life easier for travelling/working in the EU, and entitles her to settle in any EEA country. There are advantages for non-EU-citizen spouses too. There is a double taxation treaty with the UK, and her life is certainly much more straightforward in this regard than another friend who is UK resident but a dual UK/US citizen by an accident of birth (rather than descent) and bemoans her tax return process every year!

My friend's main concern about reclaiming her German citizenship was how her mother, a German-born Jewish refugee now in her 90s, would feel about it. I don't know if that is an issue for the OP.

swag

Great question.

My mother is active in Holocaust education, and regularly tells her audiences that she doesn't blame today's Germans for the actions of their ancestors. So when my sister decided she wanted to pursue citizenship, Mom didn't object, and decided she'd live up to those words and get it too . Plus, she travels to the EU somewhat frequently (pre-pandemic), so the EU passport would make that easier. But Mom told me this week that she'd changed her mind, and won't apply for herself. No logical reason, just that deep down inside, it didn't feel right. But she's still okay with her children moving forward, and will still do most of the legwork for us.

My grandparents, now deceased, would probably be mortified.

WilcoRoger

In Finland you get a simple letter from the immigration office (Migrationsverket), signed by a mid-level official there, that your application has been accepted and that you're a Finnish citizen. No frills, no oaths, no celebration - very Nordic.