German passport for money - employee sentenced
A former clerk at the Foreigners' office near Hamburg in Lower Saxony was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for bribery and accepting benefits by the Lüneburg Regional Court on July 8, 2025.
Together with an accomplice, he is alleged to have granted Residence permit and naturalizations in exchange for cash in at least 16 cases - a total of around 154,000 euros is said to have been paid. The verdict is not yet final, the defense has announced an appeal.
Authority wants to revoke unlawfully issued Residence permit
Despite the ongoing appeal proceedings, the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg has already taken action. As reported by NDR, citing a spokesperson, numerous Residence permit are currently being reviewed. The first withdrawal procedures are said to have already been initiated.
The focus is particularly on cases in which it is suspected that Residence permit or even citizenships have been granted unlawfully. Each decision will now be reviewed individually.
Not all Residence permit can be legally withdrawn without difficulty, according to the district's spokesperson - partly for legal reasons, partly for formal reasons. Some titles were only temporary anyway.
Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that affected persons will have to leave the country in the future if they lose their status.
Naturalizations are also under scrutiny
In addition to residence permits, the Foreigners' office in Lower Saxony is also investigating suspicious naturalizations. According to their own statement, they want to examine the legality of all naturalizations in addition to the cases that have been dealt with in court.
This means that some of those affected are not only at risk of losing their right of residence - but also their German citizenship.
It is not publicly known how many migrants are affected by the case.
Suspicion existed since 2022
The first indications of the scandal at the Foreigners' office in Lower Saxony had already emerged at the end of 2022. Applicants had complained to the authority that they had not received valid papers despite paying several thousand euros.
In May 2023, investigators finally searched offices and homes. Internal tips and complaints, including from migration advice centers, had previously not been followed up by the district administration.
When can German citizenship be revoked?
German citizenship can only be revoked in rare exceptional cases. Both the Basic Law (GG) and the Citizenship Act (StAG) protect the possession of a German passport particularly strictly.
Nevertheless, § 35 StAG allows the revocation of a Naturalization under certain conditions - for example, if it was obtained through bribery, fraudulent misrepresentation or deliberately false information.
In such cases , citizenship can be withdrawn retroactively up to ten years after it was granted. This means that Naturalization is legally deemed never to have taken place.
Important: If other persons - for example children - are affected, a separate decision is made for each individual person. In particular, the best interests of the child are taken into account.
Other reasons for the loss of German citizenship
Apart from revocation in cases of fraud, there are only a few other cases in which the German passport can be revoked:
- Voluntary renunciation: You give up your German passport voluntarily if you also have another nationality.
- Release on application: You apply for release from German citizenship and have already been assured that you will receive another citizenship.
- Adoption by foreign nationals: Minors lose their German citizenship if they are adopted by foreign nationals.
- Military service abroad: You join the army of a foreign country of which you are also a citizen without the consent of the Federal Ministry of Defense.
- Participation in acts of terrorism: You actively participate in combat operations of a terrorist organization abroad - again, only if this does not result in statelessness.
Since the reform of nationality law in June 2024, dual nationality has been permitted in Germany in principle.
But beware: Anyone who accepts a foreign nationality at their own request automatically loses their German nationality - unless an application for retention has been submitted and approved beforehand.
Therefore, a new citizenship should only be accepted once the application for retention has been approved. Otherwise, German citizenship will expire irrevocably.
