Dual Citizenship

iluvfra said:
I know... too many Krauts on this board ;)

Bobsmyth,
I would call the German consulate and find out. Tell them that your mother was German. Was you mother German at the time of your birth? I think that is the determining factor.
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Actually I read it from the German consulate website directly. My mother is German born, but since I was born before Jan 1 1975 I'm not a German citizen (my dad would have had to be German, which he's not).

If you were born before January 1, 1975:
- If your parents were married at the time of your birth you acquired German citizenship if your father was German; you did not acquire German citizenship if only your mother was German (unless you would otherwise have been stateless).
- If your parents were not married at the time of your birth you acquired German citizenship if your mother was German; you did not acquire German citizenship if only your father was German.
 
Ladybuggy

Like you, I won't keep my German citizenship but for different reasons. Let's just say, I have big chips on my shoulders towards the government.

My parents were in the low/middle class income range. They worked very hard all their lives and paid their taxes. Their spending power, too, went down the drain when the Euro took over. Even today, my cousins complain how little they can buy on the Euro vs the Mark.

A few years ago, my dad had to go to a nursing home. The court appointed a lawyer to handle the expenses of the nursing home; he was the power of attorney. All their financial assets were assigned to him. He paid all the monthly expenses and gave my mother a small allowance with which to buy groceries, and the rest went to cover the nursing home costs. Either way, there was not enough money for the home or my mother. So, the courts and lawyer mailed requests to me to pay the balance of about 1000 Euros every month. I ignored every letter because we would not have been able to pay that every month. But I did mail my mother some extra money every month to help with food and some extras for herself. That money was mailed to my cousin, and she gave it to my mother after getting it exchanged for Euros.

Then three years ago, my mother was hospitalized for a minor problem. She did not come home alive, and there was no money for the funeral since the lawyer controlled all the funds. He wanted to bury her at a common grave. My cousins and I arranged for my mom to have a nice private funeral at the town's cemetery. I had mailed her the money to give my mother the funeral she deserved. She also arranged to have my sister's ashes moved to my mom. Last year when my dad passed away, I made sure, he too had a decent funeral. So, the three people I loved the most are resting in peace together.

My cousins and I are in touch constantly, but I doubt I'll ever go back. I have lived here a very long time and don't consider myself a traitor. The USA is my home, for better or worse.

Have a nice Memorial Day weekend everyone:)
 
catmomoto,
I respect you decision to give up your German citizenship. Sorry to hear about your mother... Believe me, I know that the government jerks people around, however, to me there is more to being a citizen than loyalty to the 'current government' - it's culture, language, customs etc... You will only face problems if you ever wish to go back - since this is not your intent - case closed.

I appreciate your perspective. I wish you also a nice weekend!
 
Bobsmyth said:
Actually I read it from the German consulate website directly. My mother is German born, but since I was born before Jan 1 1975 I'm not a German citizen (my dad would have had to be German, which he's not).

If you were born before January 1, 1975:
- If your parents were married at the time of your birth you acquired German citizenship if your father was German; you did not acquire German citizenship if only your mother was German (unless you would otherwise have been stateless).
- If your parents were not married at the time of your birth you acquired German citizenship if your mother was German; you did not acquire German citizenship if only your father was German.
Click to expand...

Yikes - I was not familiar with this section in the law. That sucks!
 
West Germany changed the social security laws a while back and before they tap into public funds, they try to recover the expenses from the relatives.

Just like other countries do. Especially the US.

Though I do think this went quite a bit overboard.

P.S. I might mix up the time line a little and it was past the reunification, but certainly somewhat around that time frame.
 
The German laws are a big cluster f**k. My father is from Dresden, even though my mom remarried and I was stuck with them but my family comes from Unterschleißheim in Bayern, near München and meine Oma smothered me because I was her first grandchild and my parents are both German so she always spoke German, half hochdeutsch and half Bavarian dialekt so buying a couple deutsch kompetent texts and studying the grammar differences between them helped me all I needed.

I was adopted but I hated the guy, he was reported numerous times for beating me and my family there got on their big power trip to their relatives about how one of the "Deutschamerikaner" want to come back. My family here and family there had this beef about the ones that fled right before Hitler due to hunger and those that stayed. Well, I sent the paperwork properly and appealed it for 10 years to them and finally have an EU passport and I am a dual citizen now. However, that doesn't mean I don't have to undergo some processes and Naturalize and once I am deemed "fully naturalized" I have to give up my US passport. Oh yeah, Ordnung muß sein, everything is over-specific... but I sound Native until I am lost on an idiomatic comment or something.

I travel with the EU passport but to stay in Germany would require thorough back and forth with them and so many details it makes my head explode. Somehow I am eligible under the "Beibehaltungserlaubnis" even though I have visited almost yearly but apparently that is some process too because of my circumstances. I was told I can naturalize faster than the average person because I know a lot about what is required already. I still haven't decided if I want to do that yet. America has qualities that I like, like my abrasive speech, which PC is killing but the racism and it's close cousin ethnocentric entitlement that all of those races have, as well as, the 3 Abrahamic Religions and my fellow gay people is ridiculous. If North and South America acknowledged their genocide to the Natives, I might be less pissy when one of them jokes about me being a Nazi, even though many of them hate Jews too... this place is weird. Germany isn't perfect either but my family there is much better off socioeconomically and me being gay isn't as big of a thing as it is here.
 
spemat, I don't understand what your situation is. You say you got your German passport, but you still have to naturalise? Do you mean when you turn a certain age?
 
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