Here I will continue the story about Leonard's passport.

Short introduction for newcomers:

I am German living in Tibet/ China for more than 7 years (having a valid residence permit here) doing business here with Tibetan handicrafts.

I married a Chinese and we got a child who is German by his father and Chinese by birthplace and his mother.

Now for the first time we want to visit Germany so that my wife can see her parents in law and our son can see his grandparents.

here again my post from 2.4.2014:

Now (02.04.2014) it is official and even I have to accept the unbelievable:
The German consulate in Chengdu does NOT issue a visa in our son's Chinese passport to visit his grandparents (grandfather is 82 years old and has never seen his grandchild) in Germany!!!

Their argument is that Leonard by birth IS German (because me, his father is), and they can’t issue a German visa for a German.
But what an arrogance! Leonard’s mother is Chinese and he was born in China. Isn’t he therefore with the same right Chinese?

The German consulate FORCES us to make Leonard a German and to RENOUNCE his Chinese citizenship to visit Germany.

Even though we want to spend the next years in China/ Tibet. (And remember it is difficult to enter Tibet anyway, let alone to live here. I am the ONLY German living permanently in Tibet!!! For more than 7 years!!! The last German living here that long was here 1946 to 1951 (Heinrich Harrer).

Leonard should go to kindergarden here: Does he have to do that as a foreigner, which will make admission into kindergarden and schools more difficult (and expensive!), which will make him a foreigner and outsider in his class, which will make him need to acquire a visa for the country of his birth, which denies him cheap health insurance in China, which blocks him from being registered in the household registration of his mother with all its benefits … (I did not even think about the Tibet permit … one needs a permit to enter here and it is very hard to get, usually only in connection with a group tour).

According to German law Leonard can decide until he is 18 years old to become a German (I thought) … and I can imagine he probably will. But now to see his grandparents in Germany he is forced to decide NOW (Leonard is 2 years old now), with the option:

get a German passport and renounce your Chinese citizenship or you can’t go to Germany, because we won’t issue you a visa in your Chinese passport.

Thank you Germany!

I guess Germany wants his entrepreneurs to go out, expand, do business in other countries … but they do it really hard for us.

We are desperate and appreciate any suggestions, support, encouragement, ideas  … please contact (contact form below)!

By the way we are forced to make our son a German but DENIED German Kindergeld (government support for children independant of income), even though I (as well as my company!) are registered in Germany and pay full taxes there! (one can only get kindergeld in Europe, not in Asia)

Thanks again

Update 8.4.2014:

An employee of the German Auswärtiges Amt, Berlin, wrote the following confirming our worries:

"Das Kind hat durch Geburt die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit erworben, da sein Vater Deutscher ist." ...

"Aus deutscher Sicht hat das Kind also zwei Staatsangehörigkeiten (deutsch und chinesisch durch Geburt). Das Problem ist hier, dass das chinesische Recht keine doppelte Staatsangehörigkeit erlaubt.

 Entscheidet man sich hier für die chinesische Staatsangehörigkeit für das Kind, bleibt das Kind aus Sicht des deutschen Rechts weiterhin deutscher Staatsangehöriger.

Da Deutsche nicht unter das Ausländerrecht fallen, können ihnen auch keine Visa ausgestellt werden. Die Auslandsvertretungen sind zudem angewiesen, in diesen Fällen auch keine deklaratorischen Visa in die chinesischen Pässe zu kleben.

 Weiterhin ist zu beachten, dass laut Passgesetz deutsche Staatsangehörige nur mit einem deutschen Reisedokument in das Bundesgebiert einreisen dürfen.

 Ich bedauere, dass ich hier keine günstigere Auskunft erteilen kann."