Short answer
Yes. Since 27 June 2024 Germany no longer asks you to give up your current citizenship when you naturalize. Whether you really keep it depends on your other country’s law, not on Germany.
What changed in 2024?
Before the reform, most applicants from outside the EU and Switzerland had to renounce their old citizenship, unless an exception applied. That rule is gone. The old exception paragraph (§ 12 StAG) has been deleted from the law.
It works the other way too: Germans who take on another citizenship no longer lose their German one automatically.
Where is the catch?
Germany says yes. Your home country may still say no. Roughly three situations:
- Your country allows dual citizenship. You simply hold both passports. Turkey is an example.
- Your country ends your citizenship automatically when you voluntarily take another one. India is the best-known example.
- Your country wants a permission or a declaration. Some states let you keep your citizenship only if you apply for it or report the new one.
Does it make the application faster?
It removes a step. Renouncing a citizenship used to take months in some countries and you could only finish your German naturalization once it was done. Today the office does not wait for that.
The rest of the queue is the same, though. How long your city takes depends on the local office. You can see real waiting times on the Citizify timeline.
What about children born in Germany?
A child born in Germany to foreign parents gets German citizenship at birth if one parent has lived here legally for five years and holds a permanent right of residence. The old “option rule”, which forced these children to choose one citizenship as adults, has also been abolished.
What to do next
Check that you meet the other requirements, then look at the documents you will need.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give up my old citizenship to become German in 2026?
No. Since 27 June 2024 German law accepts multiple citizenship. Whether you keep your old one depends on the law of that country.
Do I have to tell the German office that I keep my other citizenship?
Yes. You list all your citizenships in the application. Keeping them is allowed, hiding them is not.
I gave up my old citizenship before 2024. Can I get it back?
Germany has no objection. Whether you can regain it depends on your former country, so ask its embassy about re-acquisition.
Do my children automatically get both citizenships?
Children of a German parent are German at birth. Whether they also hold the other parent’s citizenship depends on that country’s rules.
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