Short Answer
Germany's lifting of the dual nationality ban does not prevent your home country from automatically stripping your citizenship.
Acquiring a German passport is entirely unrestricted domestically, but external global statutes remain unyielding.
What Most Expats Don't Realize
You celebrated the new German dual citizenship legislation and finalized your naturalization paperwork, assuming your birth passport was completely safe. Months later, you discovered that your home country's laws automatically revoke nationality upon the voluntary acquisition of an external passport. You lost your native inheritance rights, were barred from buying property in your home country, and had to pay a €1,200 emergency visa fee to visit your family.
What To Do
- Call the local consulate or embassy of your home nation to review their specific policies on external naturalization.
- Verify whether your native government requires a formal retention permit before you take the German oath.
- "Verliere ich meine Staatsangehörigkeit, wenn ich die deutsche annehme?" (Do I lose my nationality if I accept the German one?) — ask your home country's diplomatic staff this exact question before signing the final German certificate.
The Truth
The 2024 citizenship modernization reform applies strictly within German borders. The system permits dual nationality from a European perspective but shifts the complete legal risk of international passport loss onto the individual applicant.