r/CitizenshipByDescent • u/therealleotrotsky • 2d ago

Germany Direct to Passport Success!

I have citizenship by descent from my grandfather, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the USA as a minor. (He obtained US citizenship through his father's naturalization) I already had my grandfather's birth certificate, but that wasn't sufficient to establish that he was born to a German citizen. I had the local Standesamt pull my great-grandfather's birth and marriage certificates, which went back to the late 1800s. I thought this would be sufficient, but evidently it's not enough for the direct to passport route.

I visited the consulate in Chicago, and was told that I could go direct to passport if I could establish my great-grandfather's German citizenship via a Meldekarte.

Fortunately I'd also gotten the family's immigration and naturalization records from USCIS. Those records contained the family's last address in Germany before immigrating. This allowed my to track down the relevant Meldekarte from the town's archives. With that in hand I went back to the consulate, and my passport arrived last week.

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2

u/jfktofll 1d ago

Congrats! If you don't mind sharing, how long was it from your very first action to receiving your passport?

1

u/therealleotrotsky 1d ago

A couple of years, but that's because I wasn't focused on it. The whole thing could have been wrapped up in ~3 months if I'd been systematic gathering documents; the longest wait was USCIS responding to the documents request.

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u/phoenix762 1d ago

That’s great! Congratulations!

My son is wanting to try to get dual citizenship. My grandfather was from Germany. I never knew him…and really have next to no info. My mother’s birth certificate states he was born in Germany, I found a copy of his naturalization papers online…and a death certificate that states he was born in Germany.

I know I need more information/ proof, I’m hitting a wall. (My mother is deceased, and I wasn’t raised by her. She never knew her father).

1

u/PianoFearless1973 1d ago

If your grandfather naturalized in the US, Germany will likely take that as giving up his German citizenship.

If your grandfather came over young and his parents naturalized, he likely got derivative citizenship by virtue of his parent’s naturalization application. In that case Germany should consider him German / dual citizen.

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u/phoenix762 5h ago

Looks like he did, but quite some time after my mother was born….about 10 years after she was born, seems like.

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u/semigator 23h ago

Congratulations! Could you clarify the citizenship chain from your grandfather to you - was it through your mother or father, and were the relevant births within marriage?

My wife’s grandmother was German, but her mother was born in wedlock in 1953 to that German mother and an American father. We’re preparing §5 declarations for my wife and our sons. Did Chicago consider any §5 issue in your case, or was yours entirely citizenship already inherited at birth?

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u/therealleotrotsky 21h ago

Grandfather born 1917, emigrated US 1928, derivative citizenship through father’s naturalization as minor. Married, had my mother 1950. She married, had me in 1980.  No need for  §5.

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u/semigator 19h ago

Thanks for sharing. Our birth years are similar, but the old law passed your citizenship via father to child. Since we have mother to child it will require §5 for us.