# Waiting to hear about German citizenship....



## Pecosa

Hi,
My husband applied for German citizenship at the consulate here in Edinburgh May of 2012 (ancestral citizenship via his German (Jewish) grandparents who fled to the US during WW2) and I was wondering if anyone has anything to share about their experience of this process?
We know it is a long shot and we know it can take up to a year, but I'd love to hear what other people have gone through trying for German citizenship via ancestry.
Thanks,
Beth


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## ALKB

Pecosa said:


> Hi,
> My husband applied for German citizenship at the consulate here in Edinburgh May of 2012 (ancestral citizenship via his German (Jewish) grandparents who fled to the US during WW2) and I was wondering if anyone has anything to share about their experience of this process?
> We know it is a long shot and we know it can take up to a year, but I'd love to hear what other people have gone through trying for German citizenship via ancestry.
> Thanks,
> Beth


Unfortunately I don't have any first hand experience, but if you need any help dealing with the German authorities, give me a shout!


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## Bevdeforges

Since you haven't had much response, I'll tell you about the one case I know of - circumstances are very different from yours, but it does illustrate the "vagaries" of dealing with civil service.

On one of the German documentary programs, they had a strange case of a German man, married to a Philippina woman. After they had been married something like 20 years or so, she applied for German citizenship and in the course of the processing, they asked for her husband's records for his parents and grandparents. Turns out the husband's father had settled for a time in Poland (I think it was) after being released from a POW camp at the end of the war (WWII) and, due to some peculiarity of the law at that time, he should have lost his German nationality for doing so. 

So, they granted the wife her German nationality and took away the husband's. He was fighting in court - and I never did hear the resolution of the case - but I have to assume he eventually got it back. (He had no other nationality he could claim.)

Obviously, this isn't relevant to your husband's case, other than to caution that there can be some strange complications in these matters. If you're prepared for this kind of thing, chances are everything will go smoothly, though. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you (and "holding my thumbs" which is the German way of wishing you luck).
Cheers,
Bev


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## Pecosa

Bevdeforges said:


> Since you haven't had much response, I'll tell you about the one case I know of - circumstances are very different from yours, but it does illustrate the "vagaries" of dealing with civil service.
> 
> On one of the German documentary programs, they had a strange case of a German man, married to a Philippina woman. After they had been married something like 20 years or so, she applied for German citizenship and in the course of the processing, they asked for her husband's records for his parents and grandparents. Turns out the husband's father had settled for a time in Poland (I think it was) after being released from a POW camp at the end of the war (WWII) and, due to some peculiarity of the law at that time, he should have lost his German nationality for doing so.
> 
> So, they granted the wife her German nationality and took away the husband's. He was fighting in court - and I never did hear the resolution of the case - but I have to assume he eventually got it back. (He had no other nationality he could claim.)
> 
> Obviously, this isn't relevant to your husband's case, other than to caution that there can be some strange complications in these matters. If you're prepared for this kind of thing, chances are everything will go smoothly, though. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you (and "holding my thumbs" which is the German way of wishing you luck).
> Cheers,
> Bev


Thanks for sharing this bizarre story, Bev. Wow, that is a twist the poor man could not have anticipated!
I will be "holding my thumbs",
Beth


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## Pecosa

ALKB said:


> Unfortunately I don't have any first hand experience, but if you need any help dealing with the German authorities, give me a shout!


:

If we ever get to that point I will give you a shout!!!


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## ALKB

Pecosa said:


> :
> 
> If we ever get to that point I will give you a shout!!!



My husband was recently naturalised and that was nerve-wrecking enough - the authorities can be incredibly nit-picky.

I do know that after the collapse of the Argentine economy, quite a few people who could proove German ancestry got German passports and came to Germany. Alas, the laws and procedures might have changed since then.


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## Pecosa

Now they are asking for my husband's grandfather's German passport. He has his birth certificate (showing born in Germany), his US passport (showing born in Germany), but not his German passport.
Any tips on how we might be able to hunt down proof of issue or a copy of an old passport?
Argh!!!
Thanks,
Beth


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## ALKB

Pecosa said:


> Now they are asking for my husband's grandfather's German passport. He has his birth certificate (showing born in Germany), his US passport (showing born in Germany), but not his German passport.
> Any tips on how we might be able to hunt down proof of issue or a copy of an old passport?
> Argh!!!
> Thanks,
> Beth


Unfortunately, being born in Germany does not make one automatically German (although at that time it was more than likely).

Do you have any idea when he had to flee Germany? You might be able to find him in a census. Do you know where he lived?


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