In search of attracting foreign workers due to the lack of labor in the country, the German Government yesterday adopted a bill to facilitate the procedure for obtaining German nationality, which also extends the possibility of maintaining the passport of origin.
The text, pending debate and approval in the Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament), could enter into force at the beginning of next year, as announced by the Minister of the Interior, Social Democrat Nancy Faeser. “We are in the midst of a global competition for the best”, he said, and Germany will only be able to attract them “if they can become fully part of our society in the foreseeable future, with all democratic rights”.
The bill drawn up by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals provides that German citizenship can be applied for after five years of legal residence, instead of the eight required now. Particularly well-integrated foreigners, who have a very good command of the language or stand out for volunteering, will be able to start the process after three years. With some exceptions, all candidates must demonstrate that they are not financially dependent on public assistance.
The text also raises the possibility of more people having dual nationality, currently only available to citizens of the European Union and Switzerland. This aspect is relevant for the Turkish community in Germany, about 1.5 million people, workers who arrived from the 1960s to work in the factories of the FRG ( gastarbeiter , guest workers) and their descendants, who they had to opt for one nationality or the other.
According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, close to 14% of the country’s population, more than 12 million of the 84.4 million inhabitants, do not have German citizenship, and of these, 5.3 million have lived in Germany for at least ten years.
Naturalization in Germany is below the EU average, with a rate of 1.1% compared to the EU’s 2%, partly due to the requirement to renounce one’s nationality in order to obtain a passport german In 2022, around 168,500 people were granted German citizenship.
The conservative opposition, formed by the Christian Democratic CDU and the Bavarian Christian Social CSU, rejected the text. Social Christian deputy Andrea Lindholz argued that “integration takes time and is more than work and language”, and said that the Government is “sending out completely wrong signals” at a time when councils face difficulties in managing immigration, and that the priority should be to reduce “irregular immigration”. The far-right AfD also attacked the bill.
The future law specifies that those who have committed anti-Semitic, racist and discriminatory acts will be excluded from the possibility of becoming nationals.
