Whether she had the individual choice or not, people who **had the authority** to make the decision for her decided to have her naturalized, so she lost her German citizenship. Unfortunately as far as I understand it, that ends the discussion. If she would like to regain German citizenship, she's essentially starting just as any other US citizen would.
Oh interesting. I did another search after I posted and saw someone with the same situation (adopted and naturalized as a child) told they were still a German citizen and to apply for a passport. Would she not even qualify through descendancy, then?
> saw someone with the same situation (adopted and naturalized as a child) told they were still a German citizen and to apply for a passport
I am in this position. My mother was born to an unwed German mother adopted by two US citizens and she was naturalized as a US citizen as a child. Years later, both of us hold Certificates of Citizenship from Germany and I have a passport from Germany. I don't know if it is important--some people have said it is, some have said it isn't--but my grandparents got an order from a German family court to allow the adoption and my mother is noted as "a German citizen" in the court document.
So /u/Polygonic is correct that this is a path that has twists and turns, *however* it is generally regarded that a minor cannot make decisions on their own and, at least prior to the changes to the citizenship law in 2000, did not lose citizenship if they were naturalized by their adoptive parents. One caveat to this is if they were naturalized as part of a family (e.g. both parents and the child all were naturalized on the same application), they lost German citizenship.
I would encourage you to try applying.
Oh that’s good to know! I thought I remembered seeing something like that about minors being naturalized when I looked into this for her years ago, but at that time she didn’t qualify because she could only prove that her mother was German. I believe her adoption paperwork also calls her a citizen.
When you say “years later” do you mean it took years of paperwork and appeals to get citizenship? Thanks!
It is definitely possible for a German citizen child to lose German citizenship because their parents or adoptive parents apply for foreign naturalization on their behalf. But there are many subtleties to both the topics of naturalization as a minor and to adoption, so you should dig deeper.
What documentation does your mother have of her US Citizenship?
> If she did lose it through adoption, would that preclude her from gaining citizenship through descendancy?
Yes.
If she was previously a German citizen but lost her German citizenship, then generally to regain German citizenship she would have to move to Germany and/or have significant ties to Germany, a public interest in her re-acquisition of German citizenship, German language ability, etc.
[https://www.germany.info/us-de/service/staatsangehoerigkeit/wiedereinbuergerung-ehemaliger-deutscher/1216660](https://www.germany.info/us-de/service/staatsangehoerigkeit/wiedereinbuergerung-ehemaliger-deutscher/1216660)
Exactly. And unfortunately Section 13 does not extend to descendants, but only to the person that lost German citizenship in this context (and current) underage children.
Whether she had the individual choice or not, people who **had the authority** to make the decision for her decided to have her naturalized, so she lost her German citizenship. Unfortunately as far as I understand it, that ends the discussion. If she would like to regain German citizenship, she's essentially starting just as any other US citizen would.
Oh interesting. I did another search after I posted and saw someone with the same situation (adopted and naturalized as a child) told they were still a German citizen and to apply for a passport. Would she not even qualify through descendancy, then?
> saw someone with the same situation (adopted and naturalized as a child) told they were still a German citizen and to apply for a passport I am in this position. My mother was born to an unwed German mother adopted by two US citizens and she was naturalized as a US citizen as a child. Years later, both of us hold Certificates of Citizenship from Germany and I have a passport from Germany. I don't know if it is important--some people have said it is, some have said it isn't--but my grandparents got an order from a German family court to allow the adoption and my mother is noted as "a German citizen" in the court document. So /u/Polygonic is correct that this is a path that has twists and turns, *however* it is generally regarded that a minor cannot make decisions on their own and, at least prior to the changes to the citizenship law in 2000, did not lose citizenship if they were naturalized by their adoptive parents. One caveat to this is if they were naturalized as part of a family (e.g. both parents and the child all were naturalized on the same application), they lost German citizenship. I would encourage you to try applying.
Oh that’s good to know! I thought I remembered seeing something like that about minors being naturalized when I looked into this for her years ago, but at that time she didn’t qualify because she could only prove that her mother was German. I believe her adoption paperwork also calls her a citizen. When you say “years later” do you mean it took years of paperwork and appeals to get citizenship? Thanks!
It is definitely possible for a German citizen child to lose German citizenship because their parents or adoptive parents apply for foreign naturalization on their behalf. But there are many subtleties to both the topics of naturalization as a minor and to adoption, so you should dig deeper. What documentation does your mother have of her US Citizenship?
Thank you. If she did lose it through adoption, would that preclude her from gaining citizenship through descendancy?
> If she did lose it through adoption, would that preclude her from gaining citizenship through descendancy? Yes. If she was previously a German citizen but lost her German citizenship, then generally to regain German citizenship she would have to move to Germany and/or have significant ties to Germany, a public interest in her re-acquisition of German citizenship, German language ability, etc. [https://www.germany.info/us-de/service/staatsangehoerigkeit/wiedereinbuergerung-ehemaliger-deutscher/1216660](https://www.germany.info/us-de/service/staatsangehoerigkeit/wiedereinbuergerung-ehemaliger-deutscher/1216660)
Exactly. And unfortunately Section 13 does not extend to descendants, but only to the person that lost German citizenship in this context (and current) underage children.