German legislators have responded to an imminent BREXIT by making important changes to citizenship laws, including allowing dual citizenship both for German citizens residing in the United Kingdom and for British citizens living in Germany.
In Article 3 of the German Transitional BREXIT Act of 8 April 2019 (German Civil Code, Book l, p. 418), they stipulate that British citizens who have submitted an application to become a naturalised German citizen do not have to give up their British citizenship if the United Kingdom leaves the EU on 31 October 2019 without a deal. Thus, British citizens will be able to keep their existing citizenship in addition to their German citizenship, which is often not the case for citizens of non EU-member states. Dual citizenship, however, is permitted only if all other citizenship requirements are met by the day the UK leaves the EU, as well as by the day naturalisation is granted.
The new law also allows Germans who have applied to become a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom before the day the UK leaves the EU to keep their German citizenship (under German law), even if they do not actually obtain British citizenship until a later date.
Translated from German into English by Rosa Foyle
