The literature on Germany's national identity comes to a conclusion quite different from that on Britain, emphasising that the basis of the German state is the idea of an ethnic nation and that this notion also informs the ius sanguinis of the citizenship law. Parekh (1995, 262) and Kurthen (1995), however, show that this notion of national homogeneity is only a self-deception which results in many incompatibilities. There are, for example, inconsistencies between a liberal asylum law and an ethnic conception of citizenship, as well as between the ideal of individual freedom and the notion of cultural homogeneity. In either case the ius sanguinis which links the acquisition of German citizenship not to residence in the country but to descent of German blood, forms a major exclusionary mechanism for ethnic minorities and the absurdity of even third generation migrants having the status of foreigner in their country of birth and residence. Until 1975, furthermore, the ius sanguinis was applicable only via the father, with the result that children of mixed parentage where the mother was German (this was the standard situation for the families of the early South Asian migrants to Germany) were born as foreigners. Since 1975 this differentiation according to the gender of the German parent is no longer valid and all children of mixed parentage acquire German citizenship by birth. For all those who were born before 1975 their parents could declare within a deadline that their children should get the German citizenship as well. Those who missed this period had to go through the regular process of naturalisation. On the German side, nobody makes sure that those who grow up with dual nationality renounce the other when reaching majority. Accordingly, if the Indian regulations were not so strict, second generation South Asians with a German parent could have retained dual nationality all their life.
For all those second generation migrants born in Germany with two foreign parents the only way of acquiring German citizenship is by naturalisation. Until 1990 the basis for this was only the Reichs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz of 1913 which left much discretion to the authorities. Since a change in the Ausländergesetz (AuslG), the process has become easier and under certain conditions one has a right to naturalisation.
In 1998 when the interviews were held the following rules applied: According to § 85 AuslG anybody between the ages of 16 and 23 years, who has lived eight years in Germany, went six years to a school in Germany, has not been prosecuted for any criminal offence and will renounce his former citizenship can acquire German citizenship. After that age according to § 86 AuslG one has to have lived 15 years in Germany, be without prosecution for a criminal offence, be able to provide for one's own living expenses and renounce the former citizenship in order to become officially a German. As long as one does not get into conflict with the law, adheres to the deadlines and stays not for a long period outside Germany it is thus only a matter of bureaucracy to change one's citizenship.
In the autumn of 1998 a coalition of Social democrats and Greens won the elections and started to reform the citizenship and foreigner laws. This resulted in heated political debates. Only parts of the reforms could be implemented so far, the political discussion still goes on.
Compare: ‘Foreigner policy’ and applied law in Germany – Attempts to prevent the naturalisation of an Indian. A case study (als pdf), M.A. essay, SOAS, London.