Germany to see a reduced time for citizenship laws. The “Call on Federal Government” includes a suggestion of faster access by law to German citizenship for the Children born to foreigners living in Germany. Furthermore, a reduction to four years should apply to foreign families who show special integrative aptitude has also been suggested.
Group’ chair holder Anja Stahmann (Bremen’s Social and Integration Senator forGreen party) urged for relaxing Germany’s legislated aversion to multiple nationalities and that German language acquisition at the mid-range B1 level be sufficient to test successfully for citizenship.
On 7 May, the “integration Ministers” of Germany’s 16 states (provinces) have 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 suggested points of the meetings are as under:
- reducing a resident child’s waiting time for citizenship from the current eight years to six years;
- a reduction to four years should apply to foreign families who show special integrative aptitude;
- German language acquisition at the mid-range B1 level;
- bringing “subsidiary” family members and reunite them with refugees already in Germany.
Germany has also had a lower number in Europe in terms of issuing citizenship to foreigners. According to the data of 2018 by OECD, Germany remained at number 18 by offering only 1.1% people citizenship rights. Sweden topped the table where its percentage remained 6.8.
New citizens (foreigners living in the country became naturalized) in European countries in 2018:
- Sweden 6.8%
- Portugal 5.4%
- Greece 5.2%
- Luxembourg 4.2%
- Finland 3.8%
- Netherlands 2.9%
- Belgium 2.6%
- The United Kingdom 2.6%
- France 2.4%
- Hungary 2.3%
- Italy 2.2%
- Poland 2.2%
- Switzerland 2.1%
- Spain 2.1%
- Norway 1.8%
- Slovenia 1.7%
- Ireland 1.5%
- Germany 1.1%
- The Czech Republic 1.1%
- Lithuania 1%
- Slovakia 1%
- Austria 0.7%
- Denmark 0.6%
Every eighth inhabitant of the country is not German. The number is also so high because, in an international comparison, only a few foreigners living here in Germany are naturalized. In 2019, 129,000 people were naturalized. That was 17,000 more than in the previous year and more than since 2003. However, a good half of the increase was due to Brexit. In the four years since the referendum on their country’s exit from the European Union, 31,600 Britons have become Germans in order to remain EU citizens themselves.
In his annual report presented on Tuesday under the title “Normalfall Diversität” urges the Expert Council for Integration and Migration (SVR) to increase the naturalization rates significantly – above all to improve the participation of the immigrant part of society.
Most citizens of EU countries do not see any added value in a German passport. On the other hand, almost three-quarters of immigrants from the rest of the world express an interest in the citizenship of their new homeland. A faster track to citizenship will help them a lot to settle down in Germany as soon as possible and to participate more positively in German society. Well-integrated immigrants should be able to become Germans not only after eight years but after four years of residence. Dual citizenship should also be accepted.
Benefits of German Citizenship
There are many benefits of havung German citizenship such as:
- The right of consular protection;
- The right of free movement;
- The right of settlement in other EU countries;
- The right to vote;
- Unrestricted access to the German job market;
- The right of assembly and association;
- The right to become a civil servant, etc.
Types of German citizenships
There are three general instances that can lead to you getting German citizenship:
- By naturalization
- By right of blood
- By right of soil
-Files from Umer Rasib, infomigrants.net, sueddeutsche.de, and visa-guru.com