Hi - I am a UK based German citizen who is in an advanced stage of applying for a Canadian PR via the (old) Federal Skilled Worker route. My question to others in a similar situation is: have you managed to get dual German/Canadian citizenship?

I have lived in the UK for 28 years and my wife and child are British citizens. The reason I ask is that if all goes well in Canada I would not be averse to getting Canadian citizenship. However, whereas dual citizenship is easy to attain for British citizens, the German constitution frowns on this practice and the general rule is, if you take up foreign citizenship you lose your German citizenship.

Why should this concern me? Well, none of us knows what the future holds and it would be a comforting security blanket retaining citizenship within the EU should the need arise that requires me to move back and work in Europe for what ever reason.

I know that there are certain situations whereby if you can prove to the German authorities that you need to retain links to Germany for family/work reasons the authorities can make a special dispensation allowing you to have dual citizenship. However, after much searching I have not been able to find any case studies with examples of such situations to compare to my own.

The alternative I guess would be for me to get British citizenship, which I figure should be fairly straightforward in my case. However, I'm not sure how that would affect our current Canadian PR application.

Sorry about the long post :-)

There is no problem with Canadian citizens having dual/multiple citizenships.

No, but there is a problem with Germans doing it. I knew several when I lived in Oakville. They'd been in Canada for decades but were still PR. They hadn't become Canadian because they would be required to stop being German. That is quite a step to take.

I also know of a German lady here who has lived here for years but is still a PR because she doesn't want to lose her German citizenship.

It is a big decision to make. If you have lived for such a long time in the UK without becoming a UK citizen, could you not just do the same here and remain a PR until such time as you are absolutely sure that you do want to change citizenship?

yes, I am a German citizen living in Canada on PR, but
I am in the last stage of (hopefully) attaining Canadian Citizenship, I have been waiting for an invitiation to the Citizenship ceremony since November, when I passed my test.

Before applying for Canadian citizenship I had to apply with the German authorities for the grant of obtaining dual Citizenship ("BBG") , which has some conditions attached to it, which I could meet. In a nutshell, you have to state your case, why you would be disadvantaged in your job without Canadian Citizenship.
After I had that approval, it is valid for 2 years, which means, if I can't get my Canadian citizenship document before August 30 , 2010, I will forfeit the right to have dual citizenship and I will have to decide whether I want to remain German or whether I will be Canadian and I haven't taken that decision yet.

Given that it takes 4-5 years of continuous residence to get Canadian citizenship, I think you would have a good idea at that point whether Canada is where your future lies. Given what is happening in Europe, I would have thought the 'comforting security blanket' is here not there.

Otherwise, unless you intend to work for CSIS or in Ottawa, you can do whatever you want without getting Canadian citizenship.

German law changed recently regarding dual citizenship with other EU nations (plus Switzerland) - you can become a British citizen and not lose German citizenship.

So you should do that, anyway, it seems.

As for getting permission to keep German citizenship upon becoming Canadian, you need the "BBG". There's an explanation here, plus a link to a Yahoo group you may find useful.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch...h%C3%B6rigkeit


Your child must be a German citizen as well as British, has the child got a German passport?

This is a useful addition to the above...

Die Beibehaltungsgenehmigung (BBG) ist ein Bescheid in Form einer Urkunde nach § 25 II StAG.
Sie berechtigt dazu, die Staatsangehörigkeit eines anderen, im Bescheid genannten Landes anzunehmen, ohne die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit zu verlieren. Seit dem 28. August 2007 ist die Beibehaltungsgenehmigung nicht mehr nötig, wenn die Person die Staatsangehörigkeit eines EU-Mitgliedstaates oder der Schweiz annimmt.
Voraussetzungen für die Erteilung einer Beibehaltungsgenehmigung sind unter anderem, dass
der Antragsteller nachvollziehbare Gründe hat, aus denen der angestrebte Erwerb der anderen Staatsangehörigkeit in seiner/ihrer konkreten Situation für ihn/sie von Vorteil ist und
er/sie fortbestehende Bindungen an Deutschland hat, die das Nebeneinander zweier Staatsangehörigkeiten rechtfertigen und
das andere Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht die doppelte Staatsangehörigkeit zulässt.

Also from the German wikipedia. As JAJ said, your best bet is to get UK citizenship before you leave.

Can i ask, without you giving away anything you don't wish to, how not being a Can. Citizen could disadvantage you in your job ?

There are many documented advantages of Canadian citizenship over permanent residence:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pros_a...an_Citizenship

Some jobs require Canadian Citizenship, and most of them are with federal government agencies. But in my specific case I wanted to work for an airline, since that was where my work experience was. The job I was interested in, required a Canadian passport. All I had to do is send them a copy of the job description where the requirements were listed and apparently they accepted it.

Could you apply for an extension?

No, not from what I heard, but I spoke to CIC in Halifax and they said that if I hadn't heard from them until mid May, I should contact them. I have already sent them a letter stating that I have this 2-year window and apparently they are aware of the situation with German applicants from what the lady said.