Germany citizenship through a grandparent
Germany does not cap descent at a fixed number of generations, so a German-citizen grandparent can still transmit citizenship down to you — but the naturalisation-abroad break test now has to clear two links in the chain, and the mid-century rules on citizenship for women and children born outside marriage add real risk at this depth.
Section 4 StAG has no fixed generational cap — the same descent rule that reaches a parent reaches a grandparent, provided every link in between held citizenship at the right moment.
The naturalisation-abroad break test (1913–27 June 2024) applies at both the grandparent's and the parent's naturalisation, if either naturalised elsewhere — either one can break the chain independently.
If the grandparent is a German woman whose child was born in wedlock between 23 May 1949 and 31 December 1974, that child may not have inherited citizenship under the law as it then stood — check whether Section 5's declaration route (deadline 19 August 2031) applies to the intermediate generation before assuming the chain is broken.
Get the exact naturalisation dates (if any) for both your grandparent and your parent, checked against the relevant birth dates.
If a Section 5 sex-discrimination gap shows up in the intermediate generation, that declaration needs to be filed for your parent before your own descent claim can proceed.
If the grandparent's citizenship was lost to Nazi-era persecution rather than a later voluntary naturalisation, check Section 15 restitution as a separate, likely stronger route.
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