A new law that allows obtaining nationality after a minimum of five years as a resident in the country instead of eight, as was a requirement until now, came into force this Thursday, June 27, in Germany.
According to the criteria of
Another of the main novelties of the reform is that will allow citizens of third countries to maintain their original nationality in parallelinstead of having to give it up as before.
This also affects those who had several nationalities by birth, among them German, who They will no longer be forced to choose as was the case until now.
At the same time, the criteria for commitment to the constitutional order have been tightened, since those who have been convicted of crimes of a racist, anti-Semitic or discriminatory nature in general, They will not be able to apply for nationality.
Those who share our values and make efforts can now obtain a German passport more quickly and no longer have to give up part of their identity with their old nationality.
“Those who share our values and make efforts can now obtain a German passport more quickly and no longer have to give up a part of their identity with their old nationality,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
Whoever wants to apply for nationality must also be well integrated and – except in cases of disability or advanced age – work enough to support oneself and one’s family and prove knowledge of the German language.
The authorities anticipate that with the entry into force of the new law, the number of nationalization requests will multiply, which is already overwhelming the limited processing capacities that many municipalities have.
In 2023, approximately 200,100 foreigners were naturalized in Germanythe highest figure since this statistic began to be recorded, as reported in May by the Destatis statistics office.
Added to these are at least 200,000 open files, as part of a process that currently can last even years.
The numbers have risen significantly in recent years and, according to a study carried out by the Mediendienst Integration organization with data from 45 cities, they rose by 19 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 and more than 100% compared to 2020. .
According to this recently published study, the main group among those aspiring to nationalization are Syrian citizens, followed by Iraqis and Turks.
The new law, which was part of the coalition agreement reached by the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, was approved by Parliament in January.
EFE
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