Does Germany Allow Dual Citizenship? What the 2024 Reform Changed

Whether you can keep your German passport while holding another one is decided by Germany, not by the country issuing the second document. This page sets out the current position, the statute behind it, and what it means in practice for someone considering a second citizenship.

Short answer: Germany permits dual citizenship. The detail below matters more than the headline, because the consequences of getting it wrong fall on the individual — usually years later, at a passport renewal or a border.

Does Germany allow dual citizenship?

Yes, since 27 June 2024. Germany now permits multiple citizenship as standard — the reform removed both the renunciation requirement and the automatic loss of German nationality.

The rule to establish first is always the one that applies to you at home. A second country can only grant its own status; it cannot preserve a nationality that your own law terminates. The wider picture is in how holding two passports works in practice, with the country-by-country table.

Key facts at a glance

What the law says

The Act on the Modernisation of Citizenship Law (StARModG) came into force on 27 June 2024. Two changes matter most: the requirement in § 10 StAG to give up the previous nationality was removed, and § 25 StAG — under which a German lost citizenship automatically on voluntarily acquiring a foreign one — was repealed. The retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung), previously needed in advance, is therefore obsolete. The standard residence requirement for naturalisation also fell from eight years to five. Separately, the Wehrdienstmodernisierungsgesetz took effect on 1 January 2026: military service remains voluntary, but a questionnaire is now compulsory for young men.

What this means in practice

• Germans who acquire another nationality after 27 June 2024 keep German citizenship automatically — no application beforehand.
• Those who lost German citizenship under the old § 25 before the reform are not automatically restored; a separate procedure applies.
• Naturalising foreigners in Germany no longer have to renounce their original nationality.
• Germany taxes on residence; the passport does not decide tax liability.

The authoritative source is the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Rules in this area change by amendment and by notification, so the position should be confirmed at the time you act, not from any article.

What usually goes wrong

The mistakes below account for most of the cases where people discover a problem years after the event, typically when renewing a passport or crossing a border. The first one is the common one: this page describes the rule at one end of the arrangement only.

• Checking only one side of the arrangement. Each country decides for itself whether you may keep its nationality, so both rules have to hold — the permissive one described here does not protect you from a restrictive one elsewhere.
• Travelling on the wrong passport at the border of a country whose nationality you hold.
• Treating a second passport as a tax solution when liability follows residence.
• Expecting stronger consular protection; in the other country of nationality it is weaker.

German citizens and Vanuatu citizenship

Germans considering a Vanuatu passport are in a materially better position than before June 2024: no retention permit, no risk of losing German nationality. The German passport already gives strong travel access, so the case for Vanuatu is usually a non-EU base rather than mobility.

If the route does make sense for you, the practical detail is in the application process, the cost breakdown and the visa-free list.

Other countries that permit it

The same question, answered for comparable jurisdictions:

• Dual citizenship in Iraq — permitted.
• Dual citizenship in the United States — permitted.
• Dual citizenship in Canada — permitted.