Federal Administrative Court, 21 February 2013, Ref.: BVerwG 5 C 9.12
Note: In view of the changes to nationality law in 2024, this judgement is no longer relevant
By naturalising as a German citizen, the applicant acquires all the rights and obligations of a German citizen. Naturalisation makes the applicant an active part of society and also gives them the right to vote.
Naturalisation is applied for at the naturalisation authority responsible for the applicant.
As naturalisation is dependent on various conditions, other authorities (e.g. the Foreigners' Registration Office, the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) or the Federal Central Criminal Register) are involved in the decision after the applicant has submitted their documents. Naturalisation can therefore take a relatively long time.
At some point, the applicant will receive an assurance of naturalisation so that they can be released from their home country citizenship. In addition to many other requirements, the applicant must arrange for the release from the home country citizenship in accordance with § 10 StAG.
Under certain circumstances, however, the renunciation of previous citizenship can be waived in accordance with § 12 StAG if the foreigner is unable to renounce their previous citizenship or can only do so under particularly difficult conditions.
This can be assumed, for example, if
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- the law of the foreign state does not provide for the departure from its nationality,
- the foreign state regularly refuses to release them,
- the foreign state has refused the release from citizenship for reasons for which the foreign national is not responsible or makes it subject to unreasonable conditions or has not decided on the complete and formal application for release within a reasonable period of time,
- the naturalisation of older persons is prevented solely by the obstacle of multiple nationality, the dismissal encounters disproportionate difficulties and the refusal of naturalisation would constitute a particular hardship,
- the foreign national would suffer considerable disadvantages, in particular of an economic or pecuniary nature, if he or she renounced his or her foreign nationality, which go beyond the loss of citizenship rights, or
- the foreigner holds a travel document in accordance with Article 28 of the Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the Status of Refugees (Federal Law Gazette 1953 II p. 559).
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In the Federal Administrative Court case mentioned above, the court had to decide whether a 15-year-old Turkish girl could obtain German citizenship without renouncing her citizenship, as the Republic of Turkey only permits renunciation of citizenship for adults, among other things.
Facts of the Court’s Ruling
The father of the 15-year-old Turkish girl was recognised as a person entitled to asylum and had been a German citizen since 2004.
In May 2006, he applied for his daughter's naturalisation as a German citizen.
When this application was rejected by the naturalisation authority, the father brought an action before the administrative court. The court ruled in favour of the claim. The appeal against this decision was successful before the Higher Administrative Court and the girl's claim was dismissed.
Judgment of the Federal Administrative Court
The Federal Administrative Court also followed the opinion of the Higher Administrative Court and rejected the girl's claim to naturalisation.
According to the Federal Administrative Court, a claim to naturalisation requires, among other things, that the foreigner gives up their previous citizenship (Section 10 (1) sentence 1 no. 4 of the German Citizenship Act - StAG).
The law does make an exception to this principle of avoiding dual nationality in accordance with § 12 para. 1 sentence 2 no. 1 StAG if the law of the foreign state does not provide for the renunciation of its nationality.
However, this exception is not relevant here, as the Republic of Turkey, according to the findings of the High Administrative Court, allows for the withdrawal of its citizenship, inter alia, in the case of adults.
The provision is only applicable if the law of the country of origin generally excludes a departure from nationality. On the other hand, it does not cover the case where a departure is provided for but - as in the case of the minor applicant - the conditions for this are not met.
The further exceptional circumstance that the foreign state makes the release from citizenship dependent on unreasonable conditions (§ 12 para. 1 sentence 2 no. 3 StAG) is also not fulfilled.
Source: Federal Administrative Court
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