Germany’s coalition government is working to make it easier for migrants to become German citizens. Relaxed rules.
german newspaper, Imagein its edition on Friday (25/11/2022) reports that the Ministry of the Interior is working on a bill that would allow foreigners residing in Germany to apply for naturalization after a 5-year stay instead of the current 8 years.
Indeed, if able to complete the so-called “special integration measures”, migrants can apply for a German passport after three years of life.
The Interior Ministry told the newspaper they were still discussing this proposal and nothing had yet reached the final step.
Dual citizenship made easier
According to the report, children born in Germany to foreign parents will automatically be granted German citizenship if one parent has had legal permanent residence status in Germany for 5 years.
Previously, ministers from 16 German states had asked the federal government to speed up the process of recognizing citizenship for children born to foreigners residing in Germany.
Furthermore, senior citizens over the age of 67 who come from the generation of guest workers are also no longer required to take a written language test.
To obtain citizenship, the “ability to communicate orally” would be sufficient. The German proficiency test is also no longer valid for this group.
The website The Local, citing a ministry source, reported last weekend that migrants would also be granted dual citizenship. Germany currently allows dual citizenship only for EU and Swiss citizens living in Germany.
Experts estimate that more than two million foreigners in Germany will benefit from the reforms.
German passports so “cheap”?
The revision of Germany’s citizenship and immigration laws was set out in writing in a coalition agreement between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s home party, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the business-oriented FDP party. These three parties form the current federal government coalition.
The parties have explicitly promised to allow dual citizenship for migrants in Germany and to speed up and simplify residence and asylum procedures.
However, not all MPs agree. Opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MP Thorsten Frei told Bild that “German passports shouldn’t be rubbish.”
Meanwhile, opposition CSU politician Andrea Lindholz was also concerned and told Bild that the coalition party wanted to sell German passports.
“Almost everyone will have it soon enough. Foreigners in Germany thus lose a great incentive to integrate. It can be a real threat to the cohesion in our society.”
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