German lawmakers on Friday voted in favor of new legislation aimed at loosening citizenship rules and ending limitations on dual citizenship. The parliament, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, voted 382-234 to approve the plan, touted as a means to improve immigrant integration and attract skilled labor.
The legislation will reduce citizenship eligibility from eight or six years of residence to five or three in cases showcasing “special integration accomplishments.” German-born children will also receive automatic citizenship if at least one parent has been residing legally in Germany for five years, a reduction from the current eight.
Restrictions against dual citizenship will also be revoked under this legislation. Most immigrants, however, from countries outside the European Union and Switzerland will still need to renounce their original nationality before receiving German citizenship, with some exceptions.
Currently, 14 percent of the country’s 84.4 million inhabitants, approximating to more than 12 million, are not German citizens. According to Government statistics, around 5.3 million of these have reportedly lived in Germany for at least a decade. The naturalization rate in Germany falls below the European Union average.
Around 168,500 people were awarded German citizenship in 2022, marking the highest figure since 2002, with a significant number of these being Syrian citizens who arrived over the past decade. “We also must make qualified people from around the world an offer like the U.S., like Canada, of which acquiring German citizenship is a part,” stated Nancy Faeser, Interior Minister, illustrating the desirability of attracting additional skilled workers.
This legislation is part of a more extensive series of planned social reforms by ScScholz’segime, which includes liberalizing regulations associated with transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals and policies related to cannabis sales and possession.
