kimilseung

That is how your post read, like you were trying to help but did not really know.

Apfelkuchen

Incidentally, another possible route is to be a family member of an EEA national, in which case UK residency can be obtained through the EEA Family Permit scheme. Possibly relevant to the OP if he has a German family member (although the family member would have to be moving to the UK with him).

JAJ

Except that:

- German residency may have expired if too long out of the country; and
- it could take up to 8 years to qualify for German citizenship; and
- under current German law, he would probably have to go to the US Embassy and sign away his American citizenship (irreversible).

Squirrel

Doesn't the family member have to be a spouse/unmarried partner/civil partner or child? It can't be a parent or sibling can it?

Squirrel

Germany doesn't allow dual still? I thought they might have relaxed that by now. The only other country I can think that don't allow is India. Oz used to not allow but changed that quite a few years ago.

Jerseygirl

Belgium didn't allow dual citizenship until a couple of years ago. The EU overturned the rule...according to my friend who now has Belgium/US citizenship.

Bob

If you're German, you can apply for a permit to allow you to get another citizenship, without it, you'd lose German citizenship if you acquired another. I've no idea about if you wanted to acquire German citizenship, they might not allow it.

China and Japan have weird citizenship laws too.

materialcontroller

Well I hadn't intended it to be ambiguous. I guess that'll teach me for trying to be a sarcastic smarty pants!

avanutria

Yes...my half-British, half-Japanese niece will have to decide which citizenship she wants to retain when she turns 22 or so.

lansbury

My nephew-in-law is German. Getting the permit is far from straightforward and by no means are they granted without good reason. He intends to just get his US citizenship. Apparently he says when it comes to dual citizenship Germany has a don't ask, don't tell policy.

Bob

It's 18 when you have to chose, but you don't need to show officially that you've renounced the other citizenship till you are 22 or 23 to maintain Japanese citizenship.

Where it gets ambiguousness though, if you're never asked to show proof that you've renounced or started the process, you don't automatically lose Japanese citizenship, but showing allegiance, such as getting a foreign passport would mean forfeiting it....so getting a UK passport before you're 22/23 would give you 10 years to play around with I suppose, or you could just travel on your Japanese passport if you aren't settling in the UK.

Bob

Good luck to him!

If nothing, the Germans do love their red tape and I wouldn't want to put that to the test

Ozzidoc

Unless things have changed in the last 12 months, Germany does, but it depends on the order in which citizenships are acquired/birth-righted. (I know, that's not a word....I can't think of the correct word.)