Germany has announced to give citizenship to foreigners in the time of 5 years and to also allow dual nationality. According to the proposed reforms for the nationality process, people in particular who have been living in Germany for several years should be able to become German citizens more quickly.
The citizenship law has been approved by the German Parliament on 19 January and the law is to be implemented from 26.06.2024.
Purpose of the reforms
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is planning to make naturalization in Germany easier. According to this, migrants should be able to apply for German citizenship after only five years (in some cases 3 years) in Germany. In addition, as stipulated in the coalition agreement, multiple (dual) citizenships are to be reintroduced.
German nationality after 5 years
Previously, a stay in Germany of 8 years was required to get German Nationality in most cases, and in some cases 6 years where the applicant has family members staying with him. This is planned to change soon now and according to the draft law, the period should be reduced to five years.
German nationality (Staatsbürgerschaft) after 3 years
In the case of “special integration achievements”, naturalization is even possible after three years. This should apply if immigrants have been particularly committed, for example;
- through school or professional achievements;
- voluntary work ;
- particularly good language skills.
German nationality for newly born babies
The German government also wants to create simpler rules for children to have their nationality done. Children born in Germany to foreign parents should automatically become Germans if one parent has had their “lawful residence” in Germany for five years. So far, this has only been the case after eight years;
German nationality for seniors
For seniors who are older than 67 years, the government wants to lift the formal language certificates (CERF level B1) previously required. Instead, the “ability to communicate orally” should suffice in the future.
Dual nationality (Doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft) possibility
The dual nationality reform is also intended to abolish a key principle of German law that has been practiced only rarely: the avoidance of multiple nationalities. The goal of the reform is to “generally allow multiple nationalities,” the paper says.
For integration, language skills, education, professional integration, and, for example, “a commitment to the free democratic basic order is far more important than the question of whether someone has one or more nationalities”.
Why Germany needs immigrants and reforms for them
On 7 May 2021, the “integration Ministers” of Germany’s 16 states (provinces) urged the federal government to bring changes in the naturalization process. Reduced timing of being for citizenship eligibility is one of the key points. The process was kept in limbo and then the new coalition government is now taking immense steps to make reforms happen.
Germany needs 400,000 skilled workers each year. Germany’s new coalition government aims to recruit 400,000 skilled workers from abroad each year to address both a demographic imbalance and labor shortages in key sectors that threaten to undermine the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. According to data from the German Institute for Economic Research, Germany’s labor force will shrink by more than 300,000 this year as more retirees than young people enter the labor market. The gap is expected to widen to more than 650,000 by 2029. By 2030, the shortage of the working-age labor force will reach about 5 million.