Good evening, I have a question regarding the status of my German citizenship. My situation is as follows.

I was born in 1979 in the Netherlands as son of a married couple, a German father and Dutch mother. I was raised in the Netherlands and as of today, never lived in Germany.

Through my father I obtained German citizenship (jus sanguinis). I did not obtain Dutch citizenship because Dutch law back then, did not automatically grant Dutch citizenship to children of a Dutch mother and jus soli did not apply.

When I was still a minor in about 1987, Dutch law offered the possibility to gain Dutch citizenship through a special fast application procedure targeted at children of Dutch mothers and non-Dutch fathers. My parents applied and by them filling out a few short forms, I had obtained Dutch citizenship. After that, over the years, nothing really changed in my life. I was able to acquire both German and Dutch legal documents upon request (mainly passports and ID cards).

With a renewed interest in my citizenships/heritage/background that was sparked recently, I am now beginning to wonder if I did not unknowingly lose my German citizenship the day I was granted Dutch citizenship as a minor.

When I obtained my Dutch citizenship upon request of my parents as I was still a minor, the 1913 Reichs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (RuStAG) was in place. This citizenship law clearly states in paragraph 25 that German citizenship is lost if those who's domicille is not Germany and who don't continiously live in Germany, apply for a foreign nationality. This is only prohibtable if someone is granted a 'Beibehaltung der Staatsangehörigkeit' before obtainig a foreign nationality. The latter is not what my parents apllied for. This would assume I lost my German citizenship.

On the other hand paragraph 25 also states that a minor cannot automatically lose his German citizenship in case an adult applies for a foreign nationality upon his behalf. In such a case, paragraph 19 would come into play which clearly states that German citizenship is then only lost if it has the approval of the court on family matters. Ofcourse my parents never activly seeked such approval.

So to summarize, on the one hand I would assume I lost my German citizenship, on the other I would assume I did not because I was exempted from such fate through paragraph 19 of the RuStAG.

I hope someone with knowledge about such matters, can help out. Ofcourse, had all this taken place after 2007, I would have had both nationalities because both countries are EU-members. But this was not 2007, but mid 1980's....

Thanks for reading.

The wording of sections 19 and 25 appliciple in 1987 does not differ significantly from the current law. So going by your information (no permission from a German family court when Dutch citizenship was granted to you as a minor), there is no reason why you shouldn't be a German citizen.

At your place I would go to the german embassy (after shutdown) and ask, what you would need for to get a "Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis". Then you'll get it and you'll know, that you still have the german citizenship - or you won't and everything is clarified. Send a mail or call them, maybe you'll get first informations.
Informations about "Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis" can be found on: https://niederlande.diplo.de/nl-de/vertretungen/botschaft - also in netherlands  :paletti:


If you still have the german citizenship (and I think, you have), you have to ask for a german identity card.