Dual Citizenship for Adults in Germany My sister was born in 1997 as a Bulgarian citizen in Germany. She became a German citizen while she was rather young (5 years old if I remember correctly), while keeping her Bulgarian citizenship. Both my parents are Bulgarians but near the end of 2002, a few months after my sister, me and my parents also became German citizens but had to give up our Bulgarian citizenship, from what I understand between me being born(1994) 1997 there was some law change that allowed my sister to keep both citizenships She recently tried to get her German passport renewed but was told that they could not just give her a new passport because she was what is called an "Optionsdeutscher" and in a year would have to choose whether to keep her German or Bulgarian citizenship. Now from what I understand and according to this government website https://www.bmi.bund.de/DE/themen/verfassung/staatsangehoerigkeit/optionspflicht/optionspflicht-node.html she has the right to keep both Citizenship's because while we have lived outside of Germany for a long time she fulfills the 8 years of living in Germany and also the only other citizenship she holds is the citizenship of an EU member country. My question is whether my understanding of the is right, and if so what legal steps can be taken in order to be able to keep both citizenships?
The law was changed several times, and different versions apply to different age groups because certain rules were not changed retroactively. The page you link describes the situation for children born after the year 2000. My advice: citizenship is such a serious matter that you should consult a specialized lawyer, not a random crowd on the web.
You're supposed to deregister with the registration office before moving out of country. This process involves giving the registration office your new address abroad. If you get sued, I assume that the court will first try to look up your address with the registration office. If you've done your homework, they will see where you moved and then try to initiate international process service. International process service is a science unto itself, so I won't go into detail with that. Short version is, the exact procedure for arranging international process service depends on the destination country and if everything goes fine, you should receive written notice that there is a lawsuit against you. If the court is unable to find your new address at the registration office, they will try to serve you at the last known address they can get hold of. This means that a postal operator will be instructed to serve you at your last home in Germany. This will of course fail because you're no longer there. (At this point, I assume that you have removed the name plate on your letterbox. If your nameplate is still there, you have a problem because your lawsuit may now be served on a letterbox you no longer live in.) The mailman will then check if there is a mail forwarding order for your address and if the forwarding address is foreign, the paperwork goes back to the court with your new address and a remark that international forwarding of process service is not permitted. THe court will then try to initiate international process service at your new address. If the postal operator has no fowarding order, the item will go back to the court as undeliverable. In this case, the court will serve you by public notification. This means that a note will be put up at the notice board of the court telling you to pick up the papers at the court. If you don't do that, process will be deemed served on you 14 days after the note was posted on the notice board. Conclusion Make sure that you are properly deregistered with the registration office. This includes informing the registration office about your new address. (This is required by law.) To be on the safe side, I would also recommend the following steps: • Make sure that the nameplate on your door, on the intercom panel and on your letterbox have been removed. Anyone showing up at your house should be able to tell that you no longer live there. • Seal your letterbox with adhesive tape after collecting your mail for the last time. Mailmen have the habit to remember names instead of reading name plates every day. This way, your mail won't end up in a dead letterbox. • Set up a mail forwarding order with Deutsche POst AG. This should be done 3 weeks before vacating the home. • If there is a regional mail company in your area, also set up a mail forwarding order with them. If you're the paranoid guy, there's even more you can do: • Periodically renew your mail forwarding order(s) • Contact the court and ask if they have a lawsuit for you • Inform the plaintiff about your new address. Then they can't claim not to know where you live. • Inform the local bailiff about your new address or ask them if they were instructed to serve something on you.
germany Does the prisoner need a long term resident &quot;prisoner&quot; visa, or something like that? No, during detention a residence permit is not required. Does the prisoner need to register as a resident when they arrive? Presumably with the prison address as their residential address? When the expected period of detention exceeds 3 months and no residence exists in Germany, then the prisoner will be reported to the registration authority. Does the time served count, for example, when applying for permanent residence or naturalization, when applicable? If no residence permit existed, then the time does not count. In other words, for immigration purposes, what is the status of a person who got into the country via extradition? If they had no immigration status when the detention started, they will have no status when it ends. Ausländerrechtliches Stichwortverzeichnis - Freiabonnements für Gefangene e.V. Aufenthaltstitel in Haft Ausländische Gefangene benötigen für die Zeit der Haft keinen Aufenthaltstitel. Läuft aber zum Beispiel die Aufenthaltserlaubnis während der (Untersuchungs-)Haft ab, muss unbedingt fristgerecht ein neuer Antrag gestellt werden. Residence permit in detention Foreign prisoners do not need a residence permit for the period of detention. However, if, for example, the residence permit expires during (pre-trial) detention, a new application must be submitted in good time. ... Ausländerrechtliche Folgen einer Verurteilung ... Besteht kein Aufenthaltstitel, ist der Ausländer nach Beendigung der Untersuchungs- bzw. Strafhaft von Gesetzes wegen zur Ausreise verpflichtet. Immigration law consequences of a conviction ... If there is no residence permit, the foreigner is legally obliged to leave the country after the end of the pre-trial or criminal detention. Vollzugsgeschäftsordnung Vom 21. Dezember 2018 JustVA (Berlin) (PDF) Page 22 of PDF 24 Mitteilung der Aufnahme an die Meldebehörde (1) Die Aufnahme von Gefangenen zum Vollzug einer Freiheitsentziehung ist innerhalb von zwei Wochen der Meldebehörde mitzuteilen, wenn die Gefangenen nach ihren Angaben nicht für eine Wohnung im Inland gemeldet sind und der Aufenthalt in der Anstalt drei Monate übersteigt. Übersteigt der Aufenthalt in der Anstalt bei der Aufnahme zunächst nicht drei Monate oder ist die Dauer der Freiheitsentziehung bei Aufnahme, wie beispielsweise beim Vollzug der Untersuchungshaft, nicht bekannt, tritt eine Mitteilungspflicht erst dann ein, wenn durch sich anschließende oder fortdauernde Freiheitsentziehung die Dauer von drei Monaten überschritten wird; die Mitteilung hat sodann innerhalb von zwei Wochen zu erfolgen. 24 Notification of admission to the registration authority (1) The admission of prisoners for the execution of a deprivation of liberty shall be reported to the registration authority within two weeks if the prisoners say they are not registered for an apartment in Germany and the stay in the institution exceeds three months. If the stay in the institution does not initially exceed three months at the time of admission or if the duration of the deprivation of liberty is not known at the time of admission, e.g. in the case of remand detention, a notification obligation only arises if subsequent or ongoing deprivation of liberty exceeds the period of three months months is exceeded; the notification must then be made within two weeks.
From the German lawyer association (&quot;Deutscher Anwaltverein&quot;) one can find the following (Google-translation): In the case of a purely preventive identity check, the officers are initially only allowed to determine the identity of the respondent. This means that you can ask for your name, date and place of birth, home address and nationality and have your ID shown - by the way, as a German citizen you don't have to always have your ID with you. &quot;You don't have to answer any questions beyond that,&quot; says lawyer Robert Hotstegs from the German Lawyers' Association (DAV). Of course, police officers often try to gather more information with emphatically casual questions. &quot;Well, where do we come from&quot; or: &quot;And where are we going now?&quot; Are typical examples. The police are not allowed to insist on an answer. Anyone who, as a respondent, is voluntarily too willing to provide information can harm themselves and possibly even give rise to concrete suspicions. So they are allowed to ask such things, but you don't need to answer everything. How to handle such situations, again according to the link above: “I recommend answering the survey as briefly and politely as possible. This has a de-escalating effect and helps to end the unpleasant situation as quickly as possible, ”says Attorney Hotstegs. However, you should always answer the questions about yourself. Because if the police cannot determine the identity of a person or only with great effort, they may take further measures to determine the identity. This includes taking it to the police station and, under certain circumstances, a search. Otherwise, these measures are not permitted without a specific reason.
When traveling abroad, how does a nation state know that a couple is married? Usually by accepting the couple's verbal statement. Some countries include a remark in a married person's passport with the name of the person's spouse, which is obviously more likely to be accepted in case of doubt, but not all countries do this. The usual formal proof of a foreign marriage is a certified copy of the foreign marriage certificate with an apostille or similar legalization whereby the foreign ministry of the country where the document was issued (or, in some federal contexts, of a constituent entity) attests to the legitimacy of the official who certified the copy and to the authenticity of the certification. This is a fairly burdensome process that is normally associated with proving family relationships in connection with establishing residence in a foreign country. Nobody is going to expect visitors to have such documents. For a casual or temporary purpose such as hospital visitation rights, the certified copy might be helpful even if it is not legalized. On the other hand, in a country where homosexuality is criminalized, the certificate could be used as evidence against the couple. What laws are in place regarding hospitalization and next of kin? This will be governed by national law. Human rights treaties probably have something to say about it, at least indirectly, but if your spouse is in the hospital that's not going to be of much use. Local law and the hospital's policy will control. What happens to a same-sex couple traveling to a nation that is not amicable to same-sex unions, say India? This is rather too broad, especially as it will depend on the sympathy of the people involved as well as on local law. The outcome could be anywhere from according full spousal visitation rights to the arrest of both spouses followed by conviction, imprisonment or possibly worse, deportation, and a ban on reentering the country.
The UK remains an EU member state until 31st October 2019. Unless a further extension is requested and granted. (One is obligated to be requested if an agreement is not reached by the 19th Oct) At the time of writing, there have been no changes to identity document requirements for EEA (includes EU) or Swiss citizens visiting the UK - they can enter the UK with a valid passport or a national identity card issued by such a state. We don't know today whether that will change after March 2019.
The governing law would be the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961). The relevant part is Article 29. Diplomats must not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. Diplomats are also immune from civil and criminal prosecution. Technically, it wasn't a US diplomat but a family member, but by Article 37 they have the same protection. The linked article suggests that her diplomatic immunity ended, but that's a bit of a non-issue. The host nation (the UK in this case) can declare anyone, diplomats or family to be persona non grata which indeed ends diplomatic immunity, but only after the person is allowed to leave the host nation. And when the act happened, the immunity was in place. Immunity cannot retroactively be withdrawn by the host nation.
German law applies As your mother was a German national, German law applies to all her property worldwide. US state law applies As your mother was a permanent resident of a US state, its law applies. Conflict of Laws It is unlikely (read impossible) that you will be able to comply with both laws simultaneously. You, therefore, have a conflict of laws problem that can only be resolved by the courts. In most cases where this particular conflict occurs, the local courts will accept that they have jurisdiction, and will also accept the court of nationality's determination that the applicable law is that where the property is - i.e., they will ‘accept the renvoi', and apply their own law to the inheritance of the property. You will need to apply to the German court who will probably decide that the US portion be dealt with using US state law and the German portion be dealt with using German law. You then need to take that decision to your state court who will probably acquiesce. Probably. Fortunately, as the US and Germany have a tax treaty, you will only need to pay inheritance tax once.