Country guide · Germany

Does Germany allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Citizenship-by-Descent.com·Last reviewed November 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

Yes. Since 27 June 2024 Germany has accepted dual citizenship with every country, so you can be German and American at the same time. A German who naturalises in the US stays German, an American who naturalises in Germany keeps US citizenship, and anyone claiming German citizenship by descent keeps the passport they already have. The catch for families is the date. The reform isn’t retroactive: a German who took another citizenship by application before 27 June 2024 without a retention permit generally lost German citizenship, and that loss still stands. For descendants, that old rule is what decides whether there is anything to claim.

The short answer

  • German who becomes American on or after 27 June 2024: still German. No permit, and no need to tell German authorities first.
  • German who became American by application before that date: German citizenship was generally lost unless a retention permit had been issued first.
  • Born with both citizenships: you hold both, and German law doesn’t generally make you choose.
  • American naturalising in Germany: giving up US citizenship is no longer a condition.
  • Descendant claiming German citizenship: you keep your other citizenship, but your line must have survived the old loss rule or fit a restoration route.

How Germany got here

For most of the last 150 years, German law worked hard to avoid dual citizenship. The rules below still matter, because each one applies to the ancestors who lived under it.

  • Until 1914: the ten-year rule. The German missions in the US say the law in its 1871 to 1914 version ended citizenship automatically after more than ten years outside Germany, so it’s usually not possible to base a claim on an ancestor who emigrated to the US before 1904.
  • The 1913 Act: section 25. The nationality act of 22 July 1913 ended German citizenship when an adult acquired another citizenship by application. It had a “domestic clause”: the loss applied only to someone with neither a home nor permanent residence in Germany.
  • 1 January 2000: the domestic clause goes. From then on, the loss applied wherever the person lived.
  • 28 August 2007: the EU exception. Taking the citizenship of another EU member state stopped triggering the loss. The Federal Office of Administration’s 2018 leaflet also lists Switzerland and countries with a treaty on the point. Germans taking US citizenship still needed a retention permit.
  • Until 26 June 2024: retention permits. A German could keep citizenship with a permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung), issued before the new citizenship was acquired. Applicants had to show why the other citizenship was needed and that they kept close ties to Germany.
  • 27 June 2024: the reform. The Act to Modernise Nationality Law repealed section 25. Retention permits, release from citizenship and the “option” duty for people born in Germany to foreign parents all ended, and naturalisation stopped requiring applicants to give up their old citizenship.

One detail often gets missed: the old loss rule only applied to citizenship acquired by application. The German missions say someone who got a foreign citizenship without applying for naturalisation stayed German. So a child born in the US who also inherited German citizenship from a parent holds both automatically.

How German citizenship can be lost today

Article 16 of the Basic Law bans taking German citizenship away, and allows an involuntary loss only under a statute and only if the person isn’t left stateless. Section 17 of the Nationality Act (StAG) now lists three grounds. Acquiring another citizenship isn’t one of them.

  • Renunciation (section 26). Only for people who hold more than one citizenship. It’s done in writing and needs approval. Approval is refused for civil servants, judges, Bundeswehr soldiers and, unless the defence ministry has no objection, people liable for military service, although those bars fall away after ten years’ residence abroad. Citizenship ends when you’re handed the certificate.
  • Joining a foreign army, or fighting for a terrorist group (section 28). An adult German who voluntarily joins the armed forces of another country whose citizenship they hold, without the defence ministry’s consent, loses German citizenship unless that would leave them stateless. This one catches dual citizens specifically.
  • Withdrawal of an unlawful act (section 35). A naturalisation obtained by deception, threats, bribery or knowingly false information can be withdrawn within ten years.

Separately, section 17(2) can end a child’s citizenship retroactively when the basis for it falls away, for example after a paternity ruling, with exceptions that include children aged five or over and children who would otherwise be stateless.

The US military

The foreign-army rule has applied since 1 January 2000. The German missions in the US say that since 6 July 2011 consent is deemed to have been given for Germans who are also citizens of EU, EFTA or NATO states, or countries listed in section 41(1) of the Residence Ordinance, and who join that country’s forces. The USA is covered, and no application is needed. That blanket consent can’t be relied on by anyone who joined before 6 July 2011. If that’s you and you had no individual consent, your German citizenship may have ended on enlistment. The Federal Office of Administration’s own example of a former German includes a military doctor who took a job with the US Army in 2003. A German who was still a minor at the time isn’t affected.

What descendants claiming by descent need to know

Under section 4, a child born to a German parent is German at birth, wherever the child is born. So the question is whether your parent was German on the day you were born, and whether their parent was, and so on back. Work through it in this order:

  1. Did an ancestor naturalise abroad, and when? Compare the date on the naturalisation record with the birth date of the next person in your line. If the naturalisation came first and fell under the old rule, the ordinary line ended there. If the child was born first, it may have carried on through that child. Our guide on USCIS naturalisation records shows how to find the date.
  2. Did the line pass through a woman, or an unmarried father? Children born after 23 May 1949 who missed citizenship through gender discrimination, and their descendants, can use the section 5 declaration. It covers children born in wedlock before 1 January 1975 to a German mother and foreign father, children born out of wedlock before 1 July 1993 to a German father, and children of a mother who lost citizenship by marrying a foreigner before 1 April 1953. The ten-year window opened on 20 August 2021, so it closes in August 2031. It doesn’t help if someone in your line held German citizenship and then lost it, and you were born after that loss (section 5(2)), so it’s no cure for an ordinary naturalisation loss. Those born before 23 May 1949 are pointed to section 14, which is discretionary and needs good German.
  3. Was your family persecuted by the Nazis? Article 116(2) of the Basic Law and section 15 StAG give former citizens and people otherwise excluded, and their descendants, a claim to naturalisation. On 19 October 2026 the Federal Office of Administration warned of temporary delays to Article 116 cases while it reviews its checks after reports of forgery and fraud. It says section 15 cases aren’t affected.
  4. Was your German parent born abroad after 31 December 1999? If that parent also lives abroad, a child born abroad doesn’t become German at birth unless the birth is reported for registration within one year (section 4(4)), or the child would otherwise be stateless. If both parents are German, the rule applies only if both fit that description. The rule doesn’t apply to descendants of Article 116(2) or section 15 citizens.

There’s also a safety net. Under section 3(2), a person who has been treated as German by German authorities for twelve years, for example through a passport or citizenship certificate, and isn’t at fault for that, acquires citizenship anyway. The effect reaches back and extends to descendants who derive their citizenship from that person.

The routes are compared in our German citizenship by descent guide. For finding the proof, see how to prove an ancestor never naturalised.

If you or a parent lost German citizenship

Section 13 lets former Germans who live abroad, and their minor children, apply for naturalisation. It’s discretionary. The Federal Office of Administration lists a public interest in your naturalisation, ties to Germany in several respects (such as long close contact with family and friends, longer or regular stays, or property there), the means to support yourself and your family, German at B1 level, no criminal record, and possibly the naturalisation test if you didn’t grow up in Germany. You no longer have to give up your other citizenship. The fee for naturalisation in section 38 is 255 euros.

This route doesn’t rewrite history. You become German when you’re handed the certificate, so it doesn’t make a child born in the meantime German.

Your other citizenship

Germany’s rule only decides your German citizenship. The Federal Office of Administration says whether you keep your other citizenship depends entirely on that country’s law, and it can’t advise on foreign law.

For Americans that’s not an obstacle. The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual says US citizens who naturalise in another country don’t automatically lose US citizenship, and that an intent to keep it is presumed. Under 8 U.S.C. 1481, US citizenship is lost only by a voluntary act done with the intention of giving it up. You must use a US passport to enter and leave the United States. Two practical limits apply in both directions. The US government doesn’t encourage dual nationality, and says the other country has a predominant claim on you while you’re there. The Federal Office of Administration’s note for multiple citizens says the same in reverse: while you’re in your other country, it can treat you as solely its citizen, and German consular help may be limited.

Americans living in Germany can naturalise under section 10 after five years’ lawful residence, if they meet the other conditions, including German at B1 level, and keep US citizenship. More on the American side is in European citizenship by descent for Americans.

Practical steps

  1. Build the timeline. List every generation with birth dates and any naturalisation, marriage or military service dates. Our document chain guide covers the paperwork.
  2. If a parent was German at your birth, ask the German mission about a passport. Usually your birth certificate and the parent’s documents are enough. If the mission has doubts, it will ask for a certificate of citizenship.
  3. If your status is unclear, apply to the Federal Office of Administration for a certificate of citizenship (Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis) under section 30. The fee in section 38 is 51 euros. Keep it safely, because it can also help your children and grandchildren.
  4. Keep old retention permits with the naturalisation certificate for the other citizenship.
  5. If you’re German and born abroad after 1999, register your child’s birth before their first birthday.

To check whether you have a claim at all, use our free citizenship by descent checker. For how Germany compares with other countries, see dual citizenship by descent, country by country.

Frequently asked questions

Does Germany allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Yes. Since 27 June 2024, a German who becomes a US citizen stays German, and an American who naturalises in Germany no longer has to give up US citizenship. The rule covers every country, not just the US. The change isn’t retroactive, so a German who took US citizenship by application before that date without a retention permit generally stopped being German.

Do I have to give up my US passport to claim German citizenship by descent?

No. If a parent was German when you were born, you are already German and hold both citizenships. Neither the section 5 declaration, section 15 naturalisation nor Article 116(2) of the Basic Law lists giving up another citizenship as a condition, and section 13 naturalisation for former Germans no longer requires it either.

My grandfather became an American citizen before 2024. Did he lose German citizenship?

Probably, if he applied for it, had no retention permit and lived outside Germany at the time. Section 25 of the nationality law ended German citizenship on acquiring another one by application, and that loss still stands. What decides your claim is whether he was still German when your parent was born. A child born before his naturalisation can have become German at birth.

Does the 2024 law give back citizenship my family already lost?

No. The Federal Office of Administration says a loss under the old law remains legally effective and the 2024 changes don’t apply to the past. The German missions in the US say the same. Restoration needs a separate route: section 5 for gender-discrimination cases, Article 116(2) or section 15 for Nazi persecution, or discretionary naturalisation under section 13.

Can I lose German citizenship by joining the US military?

Not if you joined on or after 6 July 2011. Under section 28, an adult German who voluntarily joins the armed forces of another country whose citizenship they hold loses German citizenship unless the defence ministry consents. The German missions say consent is now deemed given for the USA, the EU, EFTA and NATO states, but that blanket consent doesn’t cover anyone who joined before 6 July 2011.

I lost German citizenship by becoming American. Can I get it back?

Possibly, under section 13, but nobody has a right to it. The Federal Office of Administration looks for a public interest in your naturalisation, ties to Germany, the means to support yourself, German at B1 level, no criminal record, and sometimes the naturalisation test. If you qualify, you don’t have to give up US citizenship, and you become German on the day you’re handed the certificate.

Do I still need a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung)?

No. The procedure ended on 27 June 2024, and there’s no need to tell German authorities before you naturalise in the US. Keep any permit you were issued, though. It no longer has any legal effect going forward, but the Federal Office of Administration says it remains important proof that you, or your descendants, didn’t lose citizenship under the old law.

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 6 November 2026. The statute and Federal Office of Administration pages were read directly in German; translations are ours. The State Department’s public dual nationality page refused automated access that day, so the US position is taken from its Foreign Affairs Manual and the US Code. Only the Federal Office of Administration can decide your case; confirm with it or a German mission before you act.