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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

When can your German citizenship be revoked?

If you’re planning to apply for citizenship, you may be wondering if the German passport is something that could ever be revoked after you get it. Here are the few conditions which could lead to someone losing their citizenship.

Published: 16 April 2024 17:11 CEST
Updated: 22 April 2024 14:18 CEST
A German passport
A German passport and naturalisation certificate. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez

In rare cases, German citizenship can be revoked by the relevant authorities for committing a serious crime.

Additionally, there is a 10 year period after you’ve gained citizenship when it can still be revoked if the authorities learn that you lied on your application.

Reasons German citizenship can be forfeited 

It’s worth noting up top that generally German citizenship can only be revoked if doing so doesn’t result in a person becoming stateless. 

So authorities can revoke dual citizens’ claim to German citizenship, but cannot readily do so for people who only have claim to German citizenship (and no other nationalities) at the time.

Apart from renouncing German citizenship, your claim to a German passport can be forfeited if you:

  • Are adopted by a foreign citizen
  • Join the armed forces of another nation without the consent of the German authorities 
  • Acquire citizenship in another country without first applying for the retention of your German citizenship at the Naturalisation Office (or after your application for retention was rejected)

Note that until the new citizenship law comes into force on June 27th, 2024, gaining citizenship from another country will also generally lead to the loss of German citizenship (unless there is an exception) 

For more information about why you might renounce your citizenship, or exceptions to the foreign military exclusion rule, see this explainer.

Can my citizenship be withdrawn for committing crimes?

Dr. Sonja Kock, press officer for Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI), confirmed to The Local that “A ‘revocation’ of German citizenship by an official decision…because of a criminal conviction” is not permitted in basic law.

Kock added that the Nationality Act only recognises the loss of citizenship under the very narrow requirements, such as those listed above.

The information provided by the BMI confirms what Licensed Specialist Attorney for Immigration Law, Sven Hasse, told The Local when he was asked if foreign nationals could lose their German citizenship for committing crimes. 

Hasse noted that the reasons for revoking someone’s citizenship in Germany are defined in sections 28 and 35 of Germany’s Nationality Act.

A British and German passport.

A British and German passport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Britta Pedersen

According to section 28 of the Nationality Act, anyone who “participates in combat operations of a terrorist group abroad”, loses his or her citizenship unless they would become stateless.

Additionally, according to section 35 of the Nationality Act, an unlawful naturalisation can be withdrawn for up to 10 years after someone becomes a citizen. In other words, if you lie on your citizenship application, your citizenship can be cancelled within the next 10 years if the authorities find out.

In this case, the law notes that “the withdrawal shall take effect for the past”. So not only is your citizenship revoked, but from a legal viewpoint it is as if you have never been a German citizen.

The law also clarifies that when fraudulent naturalisation applications are found, “an independent discretionary decision shall be made for each person concerned…” The authorities should consider the potential involvement of third parties, or any threats or bribery involved in the case. So if someone filled out a misleading application under duress, it’s possible that they could be forgiven.

Having a criminal record could be a valid reason to deny a citizenship application – especially for crimes that result in a prison sentence of 90 days or more.

READ ALSO: Which criminal offences could get you barred from German citizenship?

But once you’ve successfully naturalised, your citizenship cannot be legally revoked for committing a crime, beside the specific crimes mentioned above. 

You would, of course, be subject to punishment as it is applied in German law.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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