2024-01-19 18:56:15
The Bundestag (Lower House of the German Parliament) approved this Friday (01/19/2024) legislation that facilitates and speeds up the naturalization of foreigners living in the European country.
Citizenship might be obtained in three to five years
The legislation, approved with the votes of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens party and the Free Democrats (FDP), who form the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, means that foreigners can apply for citizenship following living in Germany for five years and not eight, as previously stipulated.
Additionally, if an applicant can demonstrate “special integration achievements” through particularly good performance in school or work or civic engagement, naturalization may be possible in some cases following only three years.
Dual citizenship will be possible for non-EU citizens
Another important aspect of the new law to highlight is that foreigners who obtain German citizenship will not have to renounce that of their native country, as is already applicable to people from the European Union (EU) residing in Germany.
The conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), voted once morest the changes, as did the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
More than 12 million residents do not have German nationality
The government says that 14% of Germany’s population (more than 12 million of the country’s 84.4 million people) do not have German citizenship and that regarding 5.3 million of them have lived in the country for at least one decade. Likewise, it specifies that the naturalization rate in Germany is well below the EU average.
In 2022, some 168,500 people obtained German citizenship, the highest number since 2002, driven by a large increase in the number of Syrians who arrived in Europe’s first economy to naturalize in the last decade.
1705711576
#Germany #relaxes #law #obtain #German #citizenship
