I’d kill for a German passport right now. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it would make my life easier. As a US citizen, it’s pretty easy to go most anywhere. But technically when Americans visit Germany it’s on a Schengen visa, which means you can only be here 90 days out of every 180. This means I have to carefully watch my visits.
Also, if for some reason you are in Germany for 183+ days in the year you are required to file German taxes.
As pointed out, holding German citizenship might entitle you to German social services.
Plus it’d be kind of cool. But if you don’t need any of these things then it might not be worth the hassle.
Every time I have gone into Canada (full disclosure: the last time was about 5 years ago), they act like people coming from the US are coming to do evil damage. I am amazed I haven’t been strip-searched.
If I had a Canadian Passport I would use it to avoid the hassle.
The U.S. stance is that it doesn’t recognize the “other” country’s Citizenship one way or the other. You can be a citizen of as many countries as you want, but you will be dealt with in the USA (and its areas of legal influence) as a US Citizen. That includes taxation, criminal prosecution, treason, extradition and the like.
My wife is a “dual” citizen of USA and Mexico. We use her passport when we go to Mexican resorts since the line is always shorter.
Canadian (by birth)
British (by blood - my mother)
Australian (by naturalization, when i was about 15)
And a US Permanent Resident card.
The main benefit for me, when i was younger and wanted to travel, was that i could work in Canada and the UK without worrying about working under the table or getting work visas. Sometimes it’s also easier being able to join the local immigration queue upon arrival to the country, but that’s really not a big deal.
The only disadvantage, as far as i can tell, is the hassle and expense of getting the passports renewed.
It occurs to me that it might be rather embarrassing to hand an official a German passport but be unable to speak German. (I know a little, but I’m far from fluent.) And in the worst case it might also create some suspicion and lead to extra questioning and delays.
However, it may all be moot. Mom says she doesn’t think she has a birth certificate, so I’ll have to look through the documentation requirements and her old papers and see if we have enough information to go through the process.