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Birth of a Child in Canada
The birth of a child is a new beginning which also raises a number of legal questions. Here you will find useful information on issues frequently raised by new parents.
According to § 4 section 1 of the German Citizenship Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz - StAG) as of July 1998, a child born to a German parent automatically acquires German citizenship by birth without the requirement of any kind of application.
There is one exception to this rule: German parents who themselves were born outside of Germany on or after January 1st, 2000, will not automatically pass on German citizenship to their children if those children are also born outside of Germany (§ 4 sec. 4 StAG). Those children only become German citizens if their parents register the birth of their child with the competent German Mission within one year after the birth.
