Becoming stateless: why it is not freedom, and a second passport is

People who search for "how to become stateless" are rarely picturing life in a refugee camp or an administrative limbo with no way out. They are looking for an exit: less reach for the state, fewer obligations, more freedom to move. That is a fair wish. Statelessness simply leads in the opposite direction, and the route that really works has been open for a while now. For the full picture of the law for Germans with two passports, see the guide to dual citizenship in Germany.

What stateless really means

International law has a clear definition. Under Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, a stateless person is someone whom no state considers a national under the operation of its law. No state means none at all. Not the one you were born in, not your parents', not the one you live in.

Online, though, and especially in German-speaking circles, the word has taken on a second meaning. In forums, videos and emigration guides, stateless almost never means life without citizenship. It means life without tax residence: you move from country to country, register nowhere and hope that no tax office will ever reach you again. Your passport, usually the German one, stays in your pocket the whole time.

Both meanings have one thing in common. They promise freedom by taking something away. And neither keeps that promise. Legal statelessness strips you of rights you take for granted today. The scene's version leaves you with a single passport on which your entire freedom of movement depends.

Can you become stateless as a German?

Not voluntarily. German law is built precisely to stop that from happening.

The Basic Law protects you from statelessness

Article 16(1) of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) opens with a sentence that allows no exception: German citizenship may not be taken away. It can only be lost on the basis of a statute, and against your will only if it does not leave you stateless. That principle runs through the entire Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG).

Renunciation only with a second citizenship

The only way to give up German citizenship yourself is renunciation under § 26 StAG. And its very first sentence sets the condition: a German may renounce if they hold more than one citizenship. If the German passport is the only one you have, you cannot renounce at all. The renunciation has to be declared in writing and approved by the nationality authority, and it only takes effect once the certificate of renunciation is handed over.

Approval is refused in certain cases: for civil servants, judges and soldiers for as long as they remain in service, and for people liable for military service until the Federal Ministry of Defence, or the office it designates, has confirmed that it has no objections. Neither bar applies if you have had your habitual residence abroad for at least ten years, or if, as someone liable for military service, you have completed military service in one of your other countries of citizenship. What conscription means for Germans abroad more generally is covered under Conscription.

The other grounds for loss

§ 17(1) StAG lists only three ways in which German citizenship is lost: renunciation; joining the armed forces of a foreign state without the consent of the Ministry of Defence, or taking an actual part in combat operations of a terrorist organisation abroad; and the withdrawal of an unlawful administrative act. Joining foreign armed forces under § 28 StAG concerns the army of a state whose citizenship you also hold, and the loss does not occur if it would otherwise leave you stateless.

There is one real exception: withdrawal. If someone obtained their naturalisation through wilful deceit, threats, bribery or deliberately false or incomplete information, § 35 StAG allows it to be revoked within ten years of notification. And here the law states expressly that, as a rule, the fact that the person concerned becomes stateless does not stand in the way of withdrawal. So in Germany, statelessness is not the fate of those who want to be free, but of those who obtained naturalisation on false grounds.

The wish to turn your back on Germany therefore always starts with the same first step: a second citizenship. Why you then do not have to give up the German one at all, and what renunciation brings with it in tax and practical terms, is covered under Giving up citizenship.

Life without a passport: what statelessness means day to day

Suppose someone really is stateless. What do they actually hold in their hand? The 1954 Convention gives a sober answer, and it shows how narrow the room for manoeuvre is.

A travel document instead of a passport

Under Article 28, contracting states issue travel documents to stateless persons lawfully staying in their territory for travel outside that territory. In Germany this document is called the travel document for stateless persons, and the Residence Ordinance (Aufenthaltsverordnung, AufenthV) lists it in § 1(4) and § 4 as a passport substitute. The crucial point lies in the precondition: you are only entitled to the travel document from the state in which you lawfully live. Anyone who lives lawfully nowhere depends on the goodwill of an authority.

The Schedule to the Convention covers the rest. The document is valid for at least three months and at most two years; under § 4 AufenthV Germany issues it for up to three years, or up to ten with a permanent residence title. As long as it is valid, you may as a rule return to the issuing state. And the Schedule states expressly that issuing the document in no way entitles its holder to the protection of the diplomatic or consular authorities of the issuing state.

No state to stand up for you

Diplomatic protection is meant for citizens. For stateless persons, the United Nations International Law Commission provides only one possibility in Article 8 of its Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection: the state in which someone lawfully and habitually resides may protect them. It may, it does not have to. A stateless person stranded abroad has no embassy that speaks up for them as one of its own.

What is left

Article 27 obliges contracting states to issue identity papers to any stateless person in their territory who does not hold a valid travel document. That is the floor a stateless person stands on: an identity document from the country they happen to be in, and a travel document if they live there lawfully. No right to enter any other country follows from this.

Compare that with your German passport. Under § 7(4) of the Passport Act (Passgesetz, PassG), a passport that serves for entry into Germany may not be refused to you. You have a state you can always return to. Statelessness means trading exactly that right for a permission that can end at any time. Why a right is worth more than any permission is explained in A right, not a permission.

Stateless and tax-free? What the scene really means

Most people who search for "stateless" do not want to get rid of a citizenship. They want to get rid of a tax office. Behind it sits the idea of the perpetual traveller: always on the move, never anywhere long enough to become liable for tax. What this model means in practice and where it falls apart is examined in detail in Staatenlos leben als digitaler Nomade: Mythos und Realität (in German).

Citizenship does not decide your tax

For tax purposes it makes no difference whether you hold a passport or not. Under § 1(1) of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG), individuals who have a residence or their habitual abode in Germany have unlimited income tax liability. Citizenship is not mentioned. A stateless person with a flat in Munich pays German income tax like everyone else. How passport and tax liability relate is covered under Passport and tax.

Resident nowhere is no loophole for Germans

For Germans who move away, the Foreign Tax Act (Außensteuergesetz, AStG) has a rule of its own. § 2 AStG covers individuals who, in the ten years before their unlimited tax liability ended, had unlimited tax liability as Germans for at least five years, who live in a low-tax territory or are not resident in any foreign territory, and who have substantial economic interests in Germany. Extended limited tax liability then runs for ten years after the year of departure. In other words, the law expressly anticipates the "resident nowhere" case.

The perpetual traveller's freedom is therefore a question of residence, not of citizenship. Anyone who properly moves their main home and establishes a new tax residence is planning lawfully. What life without a residence in Germany means for insurance, bank accounts and pension is described in Ohne Wohnsitz in Deutschland (in German). And how passport, residence, company and bank account work together as one system is shown by Flag theory.

The underrated risk: a single passport

This is where the scene's model goes wrong. Someone who lives "stateless" in fact lives with exactly one citizenship, and their entire freedom of movement hangs on a single document from a single state.

What the Passport Act allows

Under § 7(1) no. 4 PassG, a passport must be refused if specific facts justify the assumption that the applicant intends to evade their tax obligations. § 8 PassG applies the same rule to a passport you already hold: if such facts come to light, it can be withdrawn. The law does not require a conviction for this; facts that justify such an assumption are enough. Where a complete refusal would be disproportionate, the authority can restrict the passport in place or time, and the restriction is noted in the passport.

Sebastian Sauerborn personally knows at least four people whose German passport was retained or declared invalid over tax matters.

A second passport is not a back door

To avoid any misunderstanding: a second passport does not cancel any German measure. A travel ban, a court order or the withdrawal of a passport remain in force, and so do your German obligations. What a second passport does is something else. It makes sure that your existence as a citizen does not depend on a single state. If your German passport is stolen, lost or taken from you abroad, you still hold a lawful travel document in the second one. What the Passport Act allows in detail is covered under Passport withdrawal, and what to do if your passport goes missing on the road under Passport lost abroad.

The better route: one citizenship more, not none

If statelessness brings no freedom, what does? Multiple citizenship. Two citizenships mean two states you are entitled to return to, two passports, two consular networks, and a fallback if one of the two states makes life difficult for you.

Since 27 June 2024 you keep your German passport

Until 2024 this was a dilemma for many Germans: anyone who took on a foreign citizenship without a retention permit had to expect to lose the German one. Since 27 June 2024 that has changed. Germans can acquire a foreign citizenship by application without losing their German one, and a retention permit is no longer required. So you do not have to choose between two states. You can have both. The routes to a second passport are set out in the Second passport guide.

Two routes that complement each other

The classic route is naturalisation: you live in a country for a number of years, meet its requirements and become a citizen. It takes no investment, but it does take time and genuine residence. The faster route is a citizenship by investment programme laid down in law. The two do not rule each other out. Many people use a programme to be protected straight away and keep going down the naturalisation route in parallel. How the two routes fit together is shown in CBI and naturalisation.

Sierra Leone accepts multiple citizenship without restriction, and its passport opens at least 65 countries visa-free or with a visa on arrival. São Tomé and Príncipe requires neither residence nor relocation, during or after the application. What the programmes cost in detail and how they differ is shown in the programme comparison and the cost overview.

More citizenship, more freedom

The urge to be free is the right one. It just needs the right direction. Freedom does not mean belonging to no state, but not depending on a single one. A second passport gives you exactly that: a right that nobody can take back from you like a permission, and a second place where you are always welcome.

Statelessness or a second passport: the bottom line

In the end it pays to take a sober look at what people hope to gain from statelessness, and at what actually happens.

• Less tax: statelessness changes nothing here. Germany taxes on the basis of residence and habitual abode, and for Germans who have moved away § 2 AStG applies on top. Tax planning works through your residence, not your passport.
• More freedom to travel: the opposite happens. Instead of a passport you get a time-limited travel document, and you are only entitled to it with lawful residence.
• Less reach for the state: this does not hold either. The state you live in remains in charge; you simply no longer have any rights towards it as a citizen.
• A fallback: only someone with more than one citizenship has one. Two passports also protect you from ever becoming stateless through the loss of a single one.

The verdict is clear. Whoever is looking for what the word stateless promises will find it in a second citizenship.

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