Citizenship by investment and your German passport: you keep both

A passport is a right, not a permission. A visa can be refused or taken away from you; a citizenship cannot. That is exactly the right you acquire through citizenship by investment. For Germans it long came at a price that appeared on no fee schedule: losing the German passport. That price is gone.

Today two legal systems sit side by side, and both have to play along. Germany has to let you remain German, and the new country has to take you in without asking you to give up the citizenship you already hold. For the leading programmes, both are now the case.

The law in Germany since 27 June 2024

Until 26 June 2024 a hard rule applied: any German who acquired a foreign citizenship on their own application lost German citizenship automatically, unless they already had a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung) in hand. For a passport from the Caribbean or West Africa, that meant spending months asking the nationality authority for permission first, with no certainty of the outcome, and only then investing.

The Act to Modernise Nationality Law (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Staatsangehörigkeitsrechts) swept that rule away. The Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) sums it up in a single sentence: since 27 June 2024, acquiring a foreign citizenship on application no longer leads to the loss of German citizenship. The Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt) confirms that the retention procedure has been abolished and that multiple citizenship is accepted.

In practical terms, for you this means:

• You acquire the new citizenship and remain German, and so do your children.
• Your German passport and your identity card stay valid.
• You don't have to choose between where you come from and where you are heading. The new citizenship is simply added.

The political debate about reversing the reform has unsettled many people. It has not changed the law: the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) as currently in force no longer provides for any loss through acquiring a foreign citizenship. For the wider framework for Germans with two or more passports, see the overview of dual citizenship in Germany.

What became of the retention permit

It is history. Procedures not yet completed by 26 June 2024 were closed by the Federal Office of Administration informally and free of charge, because there is no longer any legal basis for a permit. Certificates handed over up to and including 26 June 2024 prevented the loss at the time, but have had no effect of their own since.

Even so, don't throw yours away. The Federal Office of Administration expressly recommends keeping the certificate together with proof that you acquired the other citizenship. It can later prove that you never lost German citizenship. The details are under retention permit.

Do you have to apply for dual citizenship?

No. Many people go looking for an application for dual citizenship: a form, an authority that has to give its consent. In Germany that no longer exists. You file exactly one application, and you file it in the programme country. Your German citizenship simply carries on in the background.

The route to your second passport then looks like this:

1. You choose the programme that fits your budget, your family and the places you travel to. The costs page gives an overview of amounts and fees.
2. You put your documents together: passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, proof of address and, depending on the programme, source of funds and a CV.
3. The authority of the programme country vets you and your family members in its due diligence.
4. Once approved, you pay the contribution or make the investment, take the oath of allegiance where the programme requires it, and receive your certificate and passport.

How long each step takes is shown under process. The German state is not involved in any of these steps.

Earlier cases: a second passport acquired before 27 June 2024

The reform does not apply retroactively. Anyone who acquired a foreign citizenship on application before 27 June 2024 without holding a retention permit lost German citizenship under the law in force at the time. The Federal Office of Administration makes clear that such a loss remains legally effective. What matters, then, is the day on which the acquisition took effect, not the day on which you applied.

There is a way back for these cases. According to the Federal Foreign Office, former Germans who lost their citizenship in this way can be naturalised again under the conditions of section 13 StAG. Since Germany now accepts multiple citizenship across the board, you may keep your second citizenship when you do so.

Which programme countries allow multiple citizenship

The German side is settled. Now the other side counts: some states require new citizens to give up their previous citizenship. With a programme that forced you to do that, dual citizenship would be lost before it began. The programme authorities of the following countries state expressly that you keep your existing citizenship:

Sierra Leone leads the field: the citizenship is added to the ones you already hold, the whole application runs remotely, with no trip to Sierra Leone and no embassy appointment, and the oath and declarations are notarised over Zoom. St Kitts and Nevis recognises dual citizenship and does not require investors to renounce their existing one. Dominica and Grenada state the same in their official answers to frequently asked questions.

In Türkiye the answer comes from the law itself. Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 expressly defines multiple citizenship and, in Article 12, does not make the naturalisation of investors conditional on renunciation, though it does require a prior investor residence permit or a Turkuaz Kart.

Which programme suits your situation beyond that, whether a donation, real estate or a stake in a business, is shown in the comparison of all programmes. If you want to see the three routes to a second citizenship side by side (naturalisation, descent and investment), you will find them at Wohnsitz Ausland (in German).

What you need to do to keep the new passport

The good news first: with most programmes you don't need to do anything. Citizenship by investment is not a residence permit that has to be renewed every year. It is a status you keep.

• St Kitts and Nevis: citizenship is for life. You don't have to live in the country to keep it.
• Dominica: you don't have to live in Dominica either before or after naturalisation. As a dual national, too, you keep the status without residence.
• Grenada: you don't have to visit the country before, during or after the application.
• Sierra Leone: the passport is currently issued with five years' validity and can be renewed digitally, without travelling.

What you do keep an eye on are the conditions of your investment. If you choose the real estate route, you hold the property for the period the programme prescribes. The exact holding periods are on each programme page, for example for Grenada or St Kitts and Nevis.

And your German passport? You renew it as before at your local passport office or at the German embassy or consulate. The second citizenship changes nothing about that.

What a second passport changes in Germany, and what it doesn't

Two citizenships mean two legal relationships. Your German one remains fully intact, with all its rights and all its obligations. Here are the key points.

Tax: residence counts, not the passport

Hardly any question about dual citizenship comes up as often as tax. For Germany the answer is simple: you have unlimited income tax liability if you have a residence or your habitual abode in Germany. Citizenship is not the connecting factor. A second passport therefore does not increase your German tax burden, and on its own it does not reduce it either.

If you also want to move your residence along with the second passport, plan both together. How residence, citizenship and tax liability interlock is explained on the tax page and in the article on passport and tax.

Travel: two passports, clear rules

With two passports you choose, at every border, the one that makes entry easier. For entering and leaving Germany, your German passport remains your document. Which passport is the right one for booking, check-in and border control is covered under travelling with several passports.

Children: German citizenship carries on

Children you include in your application acquire the new citizenship in addition and remain German. Children born later are German under section 4 StAG if one parent is German.

One exception affects families who have been living abroad for some time: if you yourself were born abroad after 31 December 1999 and have your habitual residence there, your child born abroad only acquires German citizenship if, within one year of the birth, you apply to the competent civil registry office (Standesamt) or to the German embassy or consulate to have the birth recorded in the German birth register. A child who would otherwise be stateless is exempt. Who has which rights and duties is covered under children with two passports, and which family members each programme includes under family.

When you can still lose German citizenship

Acquiring a second passport no longer costs you German citizenship. Two routes do still lead out of it, though, and you should know both.

Renunciation

If you hold several citizenships, you can renounce German citizenship. Renunciation is declared in writing and requires the approval of the nationality authority. It only takes effect once the authority hands you the certificate of renunciation. Civil servants, judges and soldiers of the Bundeswehr (the German armed forces) are refused approval for as long as their service lasts, and people liable for military service until the Federal Ministry of Defence declares that it has no objection. Both bars fall away if you have had your habitual residence abroad for at least ten years. For people liable for military service, the bar also falls away if you have done military service in one of your other countries.

Renunciation is a choice, not an obligation. Whether it makes sense in your case is covered under giving up German citizenship.

Service in foreign armed forces

A German loses German citizenship by voluntarily joining, without the consent of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the armed forces of a foreign state whose citizenship they also hold. The loss does not occur if it would leave you stateless, if you were still a minor at the time, or if an international treaty entitles you to join.

For people who hold citizenship by investment this rarely comes up, but it matters all the same. What a second passport means for your obligations under the Compulsory Military Service Act (Wehrpflichtgesetz) is covered under conscription.

CBI and naturalisation: two routes that complement each other

Since 2024 every route to a second citizenship has been open to Germans without putting the first one at risk. That makes one question more important than it used to be: investment or naturalisation?

The answer is: both. Naturalisation is the free route and often the stronger one in the end, but it takes years and requires genuine residence in the country. Citizenship by investment buys you exactly that time. It gives you a second right within months while you walk the longer road. How the two routes can be combined is shown in CBI and naturalisation.

For many people a second passport is above all insurance: a second home on paper that no one can take from you by administrative decision. Why a second passport delivers exactly that is set out under why a second passport, and the thinking behind it is also described in the second passport as freedom insurance at Perspektive Ausland (in German).

Your German passport stays what it was. The second one is added. One home country becomes two.

Frequently asked questions