Germany plans to make it easier to become a citizen. This week, the Cabinet passed a bill that will make this happen. The government says this will help foreigners integrate and help the economy, which is having trouble finding skilled workers.
The lower chamber of parliament, which is comfortably controlled by the socially liberal three-party group, must still approve the legislation that Chancellor Olaf Scholz along with his ministers enacted. Depending on the speed at which that happens, it could start in January.
People will be able to get German citizenship after living there for five years, or even three years if they have made “special integration achievements.” Right now, it takes eight or six years to get German citizenship. If one of the parents has been living as a legal resident for at least five years, instead of eight years as it is now, the child is immediately a citizen.
Limits on having more than one citizenship are also going to be removed. When they become German citizens, many individuals from countries that aren’t in the European Union or Switzerland have a responsibility to give up their old identity. However, there are a few exceptions.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser informed reporters in Berlin, “We’re finally making a modern immigration statute that reflects our diverse culture.” She stated that the change comes after years of talks that “unfortunately had been frequently marked by exclusion, resentment, as well as cheap propaganda,” and that people who want to become citizens “will no more be compelled to give up a part of their personal identity.”
Faeser also said that the plan was related to Germany’s efforts to get a greater number of skilled employees to move to Europe’s largest economy and to deal with labor shortages in an increasing number of fields.
“We are engaged in a global race for the greatest individuals,” she asserted, adding that Germany will only entice such individuals “if they are able to fully integrate into our society in the near future, along with the democratic rights” really enjoyed by German citizens.
Most of the time, applicants will have to show that they can take care of themselves and their families without getting help from the government. The new law will say that people can’t become citizens if they do things that are “anti-Semitic, racist, or otherwise cruel.”
Of the 84.4 million people living in the nation, the government estimates that 14%, or over 12 million people, do not hold German citizenship, with around 5.3 million of these individuals having resided in the country for at least ten years. It says that Germany’s immigration rate is much lower than the average for the EU.
Approximately 168,500 individuals were made citizens of Germany last year. That was the biggest number since 2002. It was helped by a big rise in the total number of Syrian citizens who moved to the country in the last ten years and became naturalized, but it remained a very small number compared to the total number of permanent residents.
The possibility of a speedier naturalization is “the best incentive for successful integration,” according to Faeser.
