Citizenship

[pne]

I've talked it over with Stella and it looks as if the child will only be German.

It would be possible for the child to acquire British citizenship if we moved there later and lived in the UK for at least three years, though that might cause it to lose German citizenship unless it applies for a special dispensation.

Maybe it's for the best—there's no telling how much English it'll pick up, and it'll never have lived there.

Comments

[pne.livejournal.com]

Not easily. Since I'm a "British citizen by descent" (I was born in Germany and have British citizenship only by virtue of my British-born father), I can't pass on my citizenship.

That means the child won't be born with British citizenship, though it could acquire it later, especially if we moved to the UK. However, in that case it might be difficult to retain the German citizenship it acquires automatically at birth, since Germany tends to frown on dual citizenship and you typically lose German citizenship when acquiring another country's citizenship after birth.

So if it was dual from birth, there'd be no problem, but I don't think that's possible. Unfortunately. I think dual would be nice, too.

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

yeah, I'm brit by decent too. It's the german bit which is weird.. they don't want you to have both. Why? I know in australia if you want to be apart of intelligence it's the only time you lose your dual..
What are you guys up to?

(j/k)- hope everything works out.. Britcit is extremely useful to have. But I don't think you should have to give up the country you were born in..

Let me know what happens..

[pne.livejournal.com]

they don't want you to have both. Why?

I imagine for similar reasons to why the US discourages dual citizenship: because of problems it may cause when two countries have claim on a person. I couldn't tell you for sure, though.

Britcit is extremely useful to have.

Hm. Though inside the EU, it's not much of a muchness since citizens of member countries have pretty much the same rights in any other EU country.

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe it is pretty much the same in EU countries, Australia isn't EU tho.. That's probably why it makes the difference for me. It gives me access to all those countries I'd only have limited access to without..

Anyway, all the best in your decision. I've found tho, that kids never know what they want until it's too late. I vote speak to them in both languages from birth, if they choose not to speak them later- that's up to them. But as someone whose parents only spoke English, now I'd give anything to have grown up in a bi-language family.. I'm going to have to learn my languages the hard way-- total immersion in the country! :S

Have a fabulous weekend, and on Monday when we have our public holiday, I'll spend a few moments thinking of my friends around the world stuck at work...

but I'll probably forget :)

[pne.livejournal.com]

What public holiday do you have on Monday?