Job Discussion Forums

[zach_w]

Hello everyone,
I am just wondering if there is anyone out there who knows the in's and out's of obtaining a German passport. I am a Canadian citizen currently teaching in Poland, but I would like to end up in Germany or Italy. My grandfather was born and raised in Germany. Like other countries, does one have the ability to get a German passport based solely on the fact that their grandfather was born there? How wonderful it would be to get a German passport because as a Canadian citizen I appear to have several potential job doors closed because I don't have an EU passport. Please, somebody direct me to a site that I can get adequate info. The Canadian Embassy in Germany website doesn't appear to tell me much of anything. I look forward to all of your responses. Thank you.
-Zach

[expatben]

Gotta be honest and say no idea. My only advice is to ask the German embassy in Poland or Canada and ask.

[scot47]

For Irish nationality one grandparent is enough. I think that for German nationality it has to be a parent.

[granadino]

I inquired about this recently and got turned away. Here's my situation as it seems similar to yours:

My grandfather was born in Germany and moved the US before the war. He became a US citizen in 1945, five years before my dad was born (in the US), thus, my grandpa lost his German citizenship and it was not passed down to my dad, and it doesn't skip generations.

If he had obtained his US citizenship after my dad was born then there might have been a possibility for me to get a German passport, and even after this, it gets complicated...all of this according the German conslulate in LA.

I even tried "pretending" that I didn't know if he became a US citizen, but it didn't matter, you have to prove that he didn't.

They were nice over the phone, so I imagine they've dealt w/this sort of thing before, so it's worth a phone call if you think you have a chance.[/quote]

[poro]

Zach, it's not clear to me why an employer would require you to be an EU citizen (unless it's the EU itself, of course).

Do you mind my asking?

[scot47]

Within the EU it is easier for employers to hire citizens from EU states than to hire those from outside the EU.

So it is easier for a British or Irish passport holder to get a job than some Canadian or Yank !

That is why all these colonial TEFLers are scrambling to get EU passports !

[Sadie25]

hmmm, i always thought yanks were patriotic, seems we have uncovered some traitors here!

[poro]

[spiral78]

Poro, every member state of the EU has its own rules. Most western members have much tougher hiring laws. For example, Poland, the Czech Rep, and the other 'new' states still legally accept non-EU nationals, but the Netherlands is basically absolutely closed, and Italy, France, and Spain are very difficult to get into legally.
Basically, yes, non-EU citizens are excluded from the start in some countries, but not in others.

[poro]

hmmm.... I thought we all had the same rules, more or less.

Oh well....

Thanks for the info, Spiral.

[master_kaiser]

Unfortunately, Germany has some of the strictest citizenship laws in Europe. Germany's aversion to dual citizenship is one such example.


From the Federal Foreign Office:

My ancestors were German nationals. Can I get a German passport?
German passports are only issued to German citizens. Having German ancestors is unfortunately not enough to attain German citizenship. Rather, your father and/or mother have to have been German citizens at the time of your birth. If you were born before 1 January 1975 and your parents were married, you only attained German citizenship if your father was German at the time of your birth or if your parents submitted a declaration by 31 December 1977 stating they wanted German citizenship for their child.

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/aamt/buergerservice/faq/kat3/F2