The German government has announced that its new citizenship law is in the final drafting stages. Legislation proposed by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will make dual citizenship easier as well as naturalization for non-EU citizens.
It is a reform that has been in the works since the coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats took office in the fall of 2021. DW has reported on the government’s plans several times, and last December interviewed several people affected by the issue.
For example, Marc Young, for whom Germany’s reform to allow dual citizenship came 10 years too late: “Back then I would have been the keenest German citizen you could have imagined,” he told DW. “But I refused to give up my US passport. Retaining your old citizenship does not mean you have split loyalties, like so many German conservatives claim. It just reflects who you really are. Changing it is way overdue.”
Young said that he had been living in Germany for 20 years and had long wearied of the political debate.
The reforms the Social-Democrat-led government are part of a wide-ranging overhaul of Germany’s immigration law that is mainly aimed at encouraging more skilled workers to come to Germany and fill the massive shortages in the labor market.
Planned changes to the law
The new citizenship plans boil down to three changes:
- Immigrants legally living in Germany will be allowed to apply for citizenship after five years, rather than the current eight;
- Children born in Germany of at least one parent who has been living legally in the country for five or more years will automatically get German citizenship;
- Multiple citizenships will be allowed.
The opposition center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which has consistently blocked any such reforms in the past, attacked the government’s plans in December. “German citizenship is something very precious, and one should treat it very carefully,” CDU leader Friedrich Merz told public broadcaster ARD.
Immigrants currently include EU and Swiss nationals, those whose country of origin does not allow people to renounce citizenship (e.g. Iran, Afghanistan, Morocco), children of parents with German and other citizenship, refugees who are threatened with persecution in their home country, and Israelis. Syrians who came to Germany as refugees and are considered to have integrated well may also be fast-tracked to German citizenship.