The German Cabinet approved the bill to simplify the issuance of German citizenship

What has happened? The German cabinet approved a long-awaited bill to modernize the naturalization process in the country. Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the proposed legislation would simplify the naturalization process, and enable multiple citizenship for immigrants.

Quote. "We are introducing a modern immigration bill which would better serve our modern and diverse country. The new nationality law is one of the most important reforms of our coalition government. I am very pleased that we are now implementing this," she said.

Key innovations:

• Immigrants will have a right to German citizenship after five years of residence in the country, instead of the current eight years.
• For immigrants who have shown outstanding academic or professional achievements, and have good language skills, this period will be reduced to three years.
• The bill will also enable immigrants to hold dual citizenship or multiple nationalities, which is currently not possible for most immigrants.
• Children born in Germany to foreign parents will be able to obtain German citizenship if at least one of the parents has legally resided in the country for at least five years. These children will also be able to retain the citizenship of their parents.

Context. Currently, more than 12 million people in Germany - about 14% of the total population - do not have German citizenship. About 5.3 million of them have been living in the country for at least 10 years, according to official figures.

The reform of German citizenship law was a centerpiece of the coalition agreement, when Social Democrats, the Greens and liberal Free Democrats formed a three-way coalition government two years ago.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly said that speeding up the naturalization process, allowing immigrants to have multiple citizenships, would increase integration, social and political participation.

Now what? Parliamentary approval is required for a proposed bill to become the new law. It is expected that it will be discussed at the Bundestag after the summer holidays.

Source: Daily Sabah

Photo by Dennis Rochel on Unsplash

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