2023-06-04 12:49:29
Germany has marked a paradigm shift in what for decades was a complex obstacle course to access nationality german. From the restrictions on the naturalization of foreigners residing in the country, who also had to renounce their nationality of origin -except in the case of EU citizens or from countries that do not allow such renunciation- it was reduce time and requirements to access the passport of the first European power. As a consequence, in 2022, a total of 168,000 foreign residents who have adopted German nationality. The highest number in the last 20 years.
The chancellor’s tripartite plan between social democrats, greens and liberals Olaf Scholz, approved now but already embodied in the coalition pact signed in 2021, reduces to five years -until now there were eight- the period of residence in the country necessary to apply for German nationality. For those who show a desire for “special” integrationthe term can even be reduced to three years.
Those born in Germany to foreign parents with five years of stable and legal residence in Germany will be able to access German nationality automatically.
multiple passport
Likewise, the obligation to return the nationality of origin disappears and the multiple passport path. Something that for a long time was highly controversial and only accepted for citizens of the European Union (EU) -which in any case had to meet a series of requirements-. Citizens of Turkish origin already born in the country, for example, were required to choose between their native or German origin as soon as they reached the age of majority. Retaining both was seen as a sign of little interest in integrating into German society.
“Many immigrants feel German, but do not want to cut the relationship with their country of origin. From now on they will no longer be forced to give up a part of their identity“, announced the Minister of the Interior, the Social Democrat Nancy Faeser, presenting her “paradigm shift”.
Until now, dual nationality was only possible for EU citizens or citizens with a German parent, in addition to those from countries where the renunciation of original citizenship is not contemplated, such as Argentina. In other words, those who had “German blood” did gain dual nationality, regardless of where they lived or even if they never resided in Germany – or only passed through the country on vacation. The rule mainly favored German descendantswho in principle cannot be stripped of that nationality by “blood”.
Obstacles to access German nationality disappear or at least minimize. But even before the tripartite plan was embodied in a standard endorsed by the Ministry of the Interior, a record of naturalizations was already set. It was in 2022, with a total of 168,000 foreign residents adopting German nationality. The highest figure in the last 20 years and an increase of 28% over the previous year, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).
Syrian citizens
It is revealing that the highest percentage in this group -with 29%- corresponded to Syrian citizens, with a total of 48,300, more than double the previous year. That is, theoretically successful examples of integration in the country of a respectable number among the asylum seekers who arrived as a result of the humanitarian crisis of 2015. At that time, the requirements for naturalization included knowledge of languages, having guaranteed subsistence by one’s own means and, as a general rule, a minimum period of eight year residency.
This group includes Ryyn Alshebl, a 29-year-old Syrian who arrived as a refugee in 2015, whose case has now jumped to German news when he was elected mayor of a small town in the south of the country, Ostelrheim, with 2,500 inhabitants. He won the election with 55.4% of the vote and is among the Syrians who fast-tracked to German nationality because of his.”special desire for integration”, to his command of German and as a candidate for the Los Verdes party, the leading force in his ‘Land’, Baden-Wüttemberg.
In that same year of 2015, almost a million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, which placed the then chancellor Angela Merkel low strong internal pressures among its conservative ranks. In the following three years this figure was reduced, although the total figure of almost two million was reached.
naturalization processes
It is considered that the result of this situation, which placed the country in the face of logistical and security challenges that overwhelmed its reception capacities, favored the access of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to the German Parliament, promoted by the xenophobic vote.
The median age among these Syrians naturalized in 2022 are 24.6 years old, two thirds of them are men and have been in the country for approximately 6 and a half years. The next group of nationalized in 2022 corresponds to the Ukrainians. In this case, however, they do not correspond to the refugees who arrived after the beginning of the Russian invasion of your country, another million people, but they are earlier. Until their naturalization they had lived in Germany for an average of 13.3 years.
The acceleration of naturalization processes occurs at a time when Germany, with 87 million inhabitants, urgently needs the integration of its citizens foreigners, whether or not they are refugees, community or non-community. Half of the population is over 45 years of age and one in five citizens is even over 66 years of age. Added to the demographic, economic and social challenge is the endemic lack of personnel in practically all the country’s industrial sectors, at a time when, despite the many campaigns launched by the government, it is not possible to attract a sufficient number of qualified workers to the labor market. or without qualification. According to recent estimates by the Federal Employment Agency, Germany would need to recruit some 400,000 foreign workers annually, or a total of 35 million, by 2035.
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