Germany's revised citizenship law, allowing for dual citizenship, comes into force on Thursday (June 27). As a result, more people will have the opportunity to acquire German citizenship. InfoMigrants takes a look at the key points of the Act.
German news agency Deutsche Welle reported this information.
According to federal government data, Germany's citizenship attainment rate is half the European Union average, the report said.
At least 14 percent of Germany's total population, i.e. 1 crore 20 lakh people, do not have the country's citizenship At least 5.3 percent of people have lived in Germany for the past 10 years.
The law will come into effect on June 27, nearly seven months after the reform proposal was passed by the German parliament, the Bundestag. If this law comes into effect, immigrants will be able to apply for German citizenship after five years instead of eight years.
According to the German Ministry of the Interior, the law has been reformed with emphasis on five issues These include speeding up the process of acquiring citizenship, allowing for dual citizenship, recognizing special qualifications, simplifying citizenship by birth, giving lifetime, achievement or lifetime honors to the generation of 'guest workers' and allowing more immigrants to become German citizens.
With the law coming into effect, foreigners living in Germany will be able to apply for citizenship after five years instead of eight years.
If someone is married to a German citizen, they can apply for citizenship after four years.
Applicants who can show 'special success' in their integration into German society can apply for citizenship after three years. Specific achievements include: doing well in school, proving you in the workplace, language skills and excellence in volunteer work.
According to the German Federal Statistics Office, in 2022 almost a quarter of the total population of Germany has a history of migration.
To get a German passport or to become a citizen, a foreigner does not have to give up the citizenship of his country as before. This facility is also effective from June 27.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, applicants can retain their previous citizenship without fulfilling any conditions while acquiring German citizenship. As a result, there will be no regret of leaving the passport of your country while taking the German passport.
However, it will also depend on whether the applicant's home country allows dual citizenship or whether there is an agreement with the German government of another country in this regard.
Regarding the special privileges of newborns, the Ministry of Interior said that in the future, children born in Germany to foreign parents will "unconditionally receive German citizenship."
Even children of German origin can now retain their parents' citizenship, if one of them has regularly lived in Germany for at least five years (down from eight years).
Members of the guest worker generation can only obtain German citizenship if they can provide proof of language skills. They will not need to pass the German naturalization process They must prove they can speak German "in everyday life," the Interior ministry said.
Germany has taken this simple measure to show special respect to guest workers
Many Turkish citizens came to Germany in the 1950s to help rebuild Germany from the ruins of World War II. They are called 'Guestrbeiter' or 'Guest Workers' in German until now, if any of them wanted to become a German citizen, they had to give up their Turkish citizenship
The Interior Ministry said that any foreigner applying for German citizenship with a criminal record will not be accepted. However, the authorities will not take into account minor crimes. If someone is convicted of a crime and sentenced to a maximum of 90 days in jail, he or she will be eligible to apply for citizenship after serving the sentence.
But there is an exception. If an immigrant is convicted of 'anti-Semitic, racist or other inhumane acts', regardless of the length of the sentence, he or she will no longer be granted citizenship.
In order to obtain citizenship, foreigners must be able to support themselves and their family members. This is because, according to Sections II and XII of the German Social Code (SG Two and Twelve), they are not included in the public welfare allowance.
Asylum seekers whose asylum applications have been rejected, but whose repatriation is prohibited for security reasons, i.e. staying in Germany for a long time in the Düldung process, will not be eligible for citizenship.
According to a study by the Migration Media Service, at least 24,000 applications are currently being processed in Germany's 50 largest cities. The number is more than the total number of citizenship acquisitions in Germany in 2023 25 thousand 600 people applied for citizenship in Germany's second largest city, Hamburg.
Last year, the number of applications for citizenship increased by at least 19 percent compared to 2022. And the number is more than double compared to 2020.
Due to such initiatives of the ruling coalition government, the number of applications for citizenship will increase in the future, the concerned people think.
According to the German news agency DPA, the relevant departments of the government may be under pressure due to the increase in citizenship applications So the government is focused on digitizing the entire process
According to the Migration Media Service survey, in almost every city in Germany, Syrians lead the way in applying for citizenship. Then there are citizens of Iraq and Turkey. According to last year's statistics, the number of Iranians and Afghanis in this race is not less.
It should be noted that Germany's conservative opposition party CDU/CSU has achieved the best results in the European Parliament elections this June. The far-right AfD came in second place. But the parties in the coalition government led by German Chancellor Olaf Schalz are at the bottom. As a result, there are doubts about the future of this legal reform.
General elections will be held in Germany at the end of this summer or in the fall of next year. Currently, the opposition party CDU/CSU is very active in German politics. If they come to power in the future, they have announced to cancel these reforms of the citizenship law.