No Personalausweis for dual citizen American-German

[mhaj0721]

Hi
My wife is German-American, who has been living in the United States since she was about 7 years old. She's only returned to Germany for short trips to visit family since then. I just realized that Germany has a National Identity Document - the Personalausweis. She's never had one, as German citizens living abroad aren't required to. We haven't submitted our application yet, but checked off No on the IMM 0008 for the national identity document question.
Will it be a problem in the application? I suppose that we could apply for one for her, but it would take a while, require her to travel out of state, and delay our application significantly. She also doesn't have a current German passport - she always travels on her American one.

Thanks in advance!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi
My wife is German-American, who has been living in the United States since she was about 7 years old. She's only returned to Germany for short trips to visit family since then. I just realized that Germany has a National Identity Document - the Personalausweis. She's never had one, as German citizens living abroad aren't required to. We haven't submitted our application yet, but checked off No on the IMM 0008 for the national identity document question.
Will it be a problem in the application? I suppose that we could apply for one for her, but it would take a while, require her to travel out of state, and delay our application significantly. She also doesn't have a current German passport - she always travels on her American one.

Thanks in advance!

Not an issue.

 

[schweisy]

Agree with @canuck_in_uk. I'm a dual German-Canadian citizen and growing up in Canada I never had a Personalausweis (nor even knew what it was). I only got one as an adult when I actually moved to Germany, and my father, who's been living in Canada since he was a child but is still a German citizen, has never had one ever. If she actually had one and you checked "no" it'd be an issue, but she doesn't so I wouldn't worry (and I certainly wouldn't go through the expense and hassle of applying for one voluntarily just to fill out this form).