German citizenship can only be revoked in very specific situations, but the number of revocations jumped significantly last year compared to recent years.
According to Germany's Basic Law German citizenship cannot be revoked in most cases. But exceptions apply, in specific cases, so long as the loss of citizenship does not result in the affected person becoming stateless.
What this means in practical terms is that those people born German citizens, who are not dual citizens, cannot lose their citizenship. Whereas dual-citizens, including foreigners who naturalise as German, can have their citizenship revoked by German authorities -- although only in a few situations that are specifically defined by the Nationality Act.
For example, German citizenship can be revoked from people who join the armed forces of another nation without the consent of the German authorities.
The much more common reason a newly naturalised German would see their citizenship revoked, however, is for having lied on their citizenship application.
As a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) told The Local, "An unlawful naturalisation can be revoked within ten years of its [being granted]...if it was obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation, duress, or bribery, or through intentionally false or incomplete information that was material to the authority's decision."
READ ALSO: When can your German citizenship be revoked?
How many people are losing their German citizenship each year?
Asked how many people have seen their German citizenship revoked in recent years, the Interior Ministry provided the following numbers:
- 64 in the year 2020
- 135 in the year 2021
- 134 in the year 2022
- 174 in the year 2023
- 233 in the year 2024
- 481 in the year 2025
- 5 (as of January 19th) in 2026
The BMI spokesperson noted that the "reasons and circumstances" for these revocations are not recorded in the nationality register.
They also added that decisions in citizenship matters are only recorded after they have become legally binding, so further entries may be added to previous years, for example, if legal action has been taken against a revocation order.
Why have revocations spiked?
Looking at the numbers above, it's apparent that the number of revocations of German citizenship has shot up significantly since 2024.
This is because in mid-2024 Germany reformed its Nationality Act to allow dual-citizenship for all nationalities. The reform also reduced the residency and language requirements for naturalisation.
Since then Germany has seen a dramatic increase in the number of foreign residents naturalising, and therefore also an increase in the number of citizenship revocations.
EXPLAINED: The different routes to obtaining a German passport
Before that, from 2021 to 2023, the number of revocations was relatively stable in the mid-100s range.
In 2020, the significantly smaller number of revocations may be at least partially explained by the Covid pandemic, and social-distancing measures which slowed down virtually all aspects of life.
