Asking as a US citizen with a German uni degree and since working here for almost two years now, about to apply for Niederlassung. To look forward, I'd love to pursue Einbürgerung, but retain my US citizenship. I realize that's generally not possible, but have heard of the exception for cases of financial hardship - for specifically US citizens if one's monthly income (unsure if netto or brutto) exceeds the cost of citizenship renunciation, for us $2350 (€1960). My monthly netto is €2300 so a bit over, but I wanted to hear if anyone else might have had experiences arguing this during their own naturalization proceedings. Thanks!