In view of the new citizenship law coming into force on Thursday, the municipalities have warned of being overwhelmed by naturalization applications. “Those who want to naturalize must first have a lot of patience,” said the president of the district council, Reinhard Sager, to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “The high number of new applications, which are hitting already heavily burdened offices, will initially slow down the process instead of speeding it up.” In view of these problems, Dedy called on the federal government to “ensure realistic expectation management”.
When the law comes into force, multiple citizenship will generally be permitted in Germany – naturalized citizens will not have to give up their old passport. In future, naturalization will generally be possible after five years instead of the previous eight. For people who have integrated particularly well, naturalization will be possible after just three years.
Dedy said that these new regulations are likely to cause the number of naturalization applications to rise sharply. “Due to multiple nationalities alone, the number of naturalization applications will multiply.” Many who came to Germany as refugees in 2015 and 2016 applied for naturalization after eight years of residence.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) described the reform on Tuesday as a “commitment to a modern Germany”. It signals to immigrants that they belong to Germany. “Those who share our values and make an effort can now get a German passport more quickly and no longer have to give up part of their identity by giving up their old nationality,” explained Faeser. “But we have also made it just as clear: Those who do not share our values cannot get a German passport.”