While many people are excited by the prospect of being able to hold dual citizenship under the new German citizenship law, what about people who already have two passports but also want to naturalise in Germany? Will it be possible for them to hold triple citizenship?
On January 19, the German Bundestag passed the country’s new citizenship law. When the law comes into effect, people who have been resident in Germany for just five years, rather than eight, will be eligible to apply for a German passport.
Until now, many residents have been deterred from applying for citizenship, since the previous law only allowed EU nationals and people who apply for citizenship through descent and ancestry to keep their original citizenship and have a German passport simultaneously.
However, once the new law comes into effect - which is expected to happen in April or May - nobody will have to sacrifice their original citizenship to get a German passport.
So what does the change mean for people who already hold dual nationality - for example with Australia and the UK - but would like to have a more secure resident status in Germany or be able to take part in elections in the federal republic, a right which only comes with holding citizenship?
German law already allows EU citizens or those who gain citizenship through ancestry to have multiple nationalities, not just dual nationality. Like dual citizenship rights, this will now be extended to everyone, which means that if you meet the requirements laid out in the new law, you will be able to apply for a German passport and keep the other two nationalities that you already have.
The new law states that “the principle of avoiding multiple nationalities will be abandoned. In future, naturalisation procedures will generally accept multiple nationalities. It is therefore no longer necessary to give up the previous nationality”.
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