Obtaining Citizenship Citizenship in America and Germany

Josh Gwaltney

Business Law

Professor Deleeuw

9 April 2015

Obtaining Citizenship Citizenship in America and Germany

        Holding a national citizenship can provide significant social and economic benefits, including enabling economic growth, raising wages for workers, providing certainty for workers and their employers and building a sense of unity among national residents. I am going to compare and contrast specifically the rules and regulations for immigration between the United States of America and Germany. The American and German citizenship rules and regulations are similar in many ways but they have a few key differences as well.

        American citizenship rules and regulations can be found in Title 8 of the U.S. code. This section of the U.S. Code outlines all the possible situations that would require clarification whether a person is legally a citizen in the United States of America. The rules and regulations cover a large number of situations and stipulations which include citizenship by birth, by decent, by naturalization, dual citizenship recognition, and a few other important things. Children born within the territory of the United States, regardless of the citizenship of the parents are granted citizenship. Children born abroad with both parents being citizens of the United States, and one of who resided in the United States before the birth of the child are granted citizenship. Children born abroad with one parent who is a citizen of the United States and has resided in the United States for at least five years before the birth of the child are granted citizenship. A person who is 18 years old, has resided in the United States for at least five years as a lawful permanent resident, able to speak, read, and write English, of good moral character, familiar with the history and culture of the country, educated in the principles of the United States Constitution, and receiving a passing grade on a naturalization test can be naturalized as an American citizen. Citizenship may also be acquired for a foreign citizen who marries a citizen of the United States and resides in the United States for three years, and fulfills the requirements stated in the previous sentence. A few other provisions for granting citizenship are also given to persons who have performed specific military service to this country. And Dual citizenship is recognized in the United States of America as well.

        German citizenship rules and regulations can be found in The German citizenship law. On January 1, 2000, the laws underwent an extreme overhaul due to the enforcement of the amended Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz). The Germans rules and regulations cover the same type of situations and stipulations that I mentioned for the U.S. Code but, a couple of slight differences concerning requirements for citizenship are present. Being born within the Federal Republic of Germany does not automatically confer citizenship, but if one parent has lived in the country for eight years then citizenship is granted. A child born in wedlock whose father or mother is a citizen of Germany is granted citizenship. A child born out of wedlock whose father is stateless or unknown and whose mother is a citizen of Germany is granted citizenship. A child born out of wedlock to a foreign woman and a German father will be granted German citizenship as long as the child is legally proved as the German fathers. Naturalization citizenship can be acquired by fulfilling a few requirements which include being a resident in Germany for at least eight years, legal capacity, commitment to the democratic constitutional system created by the German Basic Law, able to support oneself without benefits being the only option, clean background, adequate knowledge of the language, legal system, and society’s living conditions. And dual citizenship is not recognized in Germany except for in a few special cases.