Becoming a dual citizen?

Many people, like myself, have come to really feel at home in Germany. As much as complain every now and then, we really are most happy here.

This was particularly true after I took a 3 month business trip to Los Angeles and took my family with me. It was thrilled for my children (at that time 2 and 4 years old) to visit America for the first time. They got to see a little bit of what it was like where I grew up, although I grew up in Northern California. They had fun and really enjoyed the beach.

But, when we came back I realized that I loved how clean the freeways were and how little traffic we live with on a day to day basis. My commute to work is 15 minutes by bike (or 30 minutes walking). The kids were thrilled to see their friends again. Plus, here we have my wife's family all somewhat centralized in or near Wiesbaden. Although we live in Hamburg, the trip isn't that bad and we get to see the in-laws quite often. That is a luxury that I didn't have as a kid. I grew up in California and my relatives were in Missouri and in Norway. So, visiting family every 1 or 2 years was a major event during summer vacations. A couple of times we got to spend Christmas with our larger family. So, watching the joy that my kids have in being able to spend lots of time with a large part of their family (although I wish they had more time with my side) just fills my heart. I never had that growing up and it was very significant for me as a child, exacerbated by the fact that my parents were divorced, meaning long trips on the weekend to visit my father.

So, I considered the option of gaining German citizenship. I figured that if I am going to live here long-term, then I should try to feel more integrated into society. I am slowly starting to understand some of the politics and I could imagine having a strong enough opinion to want to take part in major elections.

The next logical question is what would one have to do to become a citizen? The Ministry of the Interior has it all up on their website in English for anyone wanting the details, but here is a quick summary:

- live legally in Germany for 8 years (if you take the integration course, this will be cut down to 7 years and if you are married to a German citizen, this can be cut down to 3 years)
- declare allegiance to the German constitution
- sufficient command of German (from what I understand this is easier than one might think)
- ability to be self-sufficient (no freeloaders, please)
- don't be a criminal
- give up your previous citizenship

Ok, I was cool with everything up until that last point. As much as I feel at home here and want to integrate in, I am still proud of my heritage as my children should be, too. My connection to both countries is strong and I couldn't choose one over the other. Naturalized citizens are intended to only have German nationality. There are some exceptions for ethnic German repatriates (former German citizens who were deprived of the citizenship by the Nazi regime between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945) and elderly people. So, I might wait until I'm old before applying.

Alternatively, children born to a cocktail of parents can easily gain dual citizenship. For my kids it was easy. It is important to apply before they are of age. Since my wife is German and I am a US citizen, the kids could easily gain both citizenships, regardless of where they were born.

When traveling between the US and Germany, the children need to show the corresponding passport to the country into which they are traveling. To the US they have to show US passports and to Germany their German passports. This is required by law.

Since my kids are growing up in Germany, their children will not necessarily automatically have the right to become US citizens. If they spend 5 or more years living in the US, then their kids will be allowed to automatically gain US citizenship. But, they will need to document all travel to the US and be able to recite those dates. I supposed that once the US immigration department has their super-duper-computer up and running it will be easy for them to track how long anyone has spent in the US, but until then it is all dependent upon word of honor. When I was applying for passports for my kids the person at the embassy asked me subtly how long I had lived in the US. I thought the question a bit odd, but asked if I need to be more accurate than 32 to 33 years ( I have lived abroad in between). Then she let me know that I just needed to have lived there for at least 5 years. If you didn't know that this question was coming and you hadn't lived in the US for 5 years, I suppose this is how they catch ineligible applicants.