Her position toward me was always the same from day one: I'll live with you to the end of our days if you want, but not "over there." If the banks of the Rhein River are good enough for you, then come be my man. Since I would have followed her to the ends of the earth, it wasn't a difficult choice to make. Germany has serious issues as well, worse now than ten years ago, and it's not written in stone that we'll end up here (Switzerland and NL are still very enticing). As long as one of our daughters wants to keep living in New York City, we'll always visit. As long as she and her two sons keep their German citizenship, they'll always have the option of coming back here as well. Our younger daughter, also a dual citizen of Germany and the USA as are her two daughters, could live in the USA any time she wanted, and would certainly live in New York City if she could. Just a week ago, she returned from two days in London with her man (their girls were with us) to find their house had been broken into and ransacked by a gang whose M.O. suggested it was the same gang who had broken into ten other houses in their neighborhood. Since unarmed theft is not pursued as a crime in Germany, nothing will come of any "investigation." The perps will probably not be caught, and nothing will happen to them if they are. They would never live in Trump's America, but could envision moving there once Trump and all vestiges of his type of government have gone.
Also--European governments love money, and they love taking it from people. When I applied for residence and a work permit here, I had to show long term employment, health insurance (amazingly, Blue Cross was accepted as health insurance!!), language proficiency in German, long term marriage to a German citizen, and proof that I had sufficient savings so that I would never ask them for welfare of any kind. It took them all of two months to approve my application (!!). It took them even less time to demand a tax return.
ALL of my income is in the USA, and all it was taxed there at 37.9 or 39.6 or whatever was the top rate in 2011. But the Germans didn't care, and they don't honor the Double Taxation Treaty because they don't feel like it. They have wanted to tax me at 42% plus 7% "solidarity supplement to help rebuild East Germany," which was done over ten years ago, so about 50%. That's their Max Tax rate, but it kicks it at about $85,000. Fifty plus forty doesn't leave much left over when subtracted from one hundred. Heil Honecker!
By the way, the bureaucratic process for acquiring citizenship for relatives eligible for it has changed a lot in 40 years. My two daughters were both born in Germany. I called down to the US Embassy, then in Bonn, and asked what I needed to do to get them US citizenship. They told me a list of things I needed to bring, along with my current passport. I did, both times. I showed up, having no appointment, filled out a form, handed them the stuff they requested, and waited a little over an hour. I was then called to the window. Both times, it took about that long. At the window, each time, they handed me my new daughter's U.S. birth certificate, their first passports, and their Social Security Numbers. When I was there for my second daughter's passport, I asked if I could get a social security number for my wife. They asked why. I said simply because I was occasionally asked to provide "Spouse's Social Security Number" when filling out some forms. They said, sure, they could get her one, but it would not be valid for work in the USA. I was that was fine, as she never intended to seed it for that anyway. That took an extra 15 minutes, and they handed me her Social Security Number.
These days, to get her children US citizenship (for my daughter living in Germany) and German citizenship for the children of my daughter living in the USA, it took eleven months of paper pushing and numerous appointments which one could ONLY make online, something that didn't even exist in 1985. When someone tells us how much easier life has been made by the internet, I always laugh and think to myself, that is definitely NOT a unliversally applicable statement.
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