Law to end Germany's 'turbo naturalisations' moves forward

Local Germany

26-05-2025

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt will present the first draft laws to limit migration and tighten Germany's naturalisation laws to the cabinet on Wednesday.
A draft law which would
repeal the three-year fast track to citizenship
for well-integrated foreign residents is expected to pass.
The conservative Union parties refer to the three-year citizenship process as "turbo naturalisations", and plan to ban them in the future.
According to the draft law
,
its aim is to "strengthen the importance of lawfully completed residence in Germany as a central and essential prerequisite for naturalisation."
The end of turbo citizenship
The three-year track for naturalisation had been introduced last year as part of a sweeping reform of Germany's citizenship rules.
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It enabled immigrants with at least C1 German and "special achievements" in work, education or society to apply for naturalisation after three years of residence in the country.
However, in most cases foreign nationals needed to reside in the country on a valid residence permit for at least five years to be eligible to become a German citizen. That requirement would not be changed by the current draft law, but would become the norm, regardless of applicants' integration level.
So the change effectively means that even exceptionally integrated immigrants will have to reside in Germany for at least five years before applying to naturalise in the future.
Other basic requirements for naturalisation -- such as speaking B1 level German, passing a knowledge test and demonstrating the ability to support yourself financially -- would remain unchanged.
According to information
published by immigration lawyer Gökhan Akbaş
, it's currently unknown if there will be a transition period during which fast track citizenship applications that have already been submitted can be approved.
Akbaş suggests that applicants in this position may want to bring an action for failure to act (
Untätigkeitsklage
) to try and force a decision before the change is set.
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Dual citizenship remains
Germany's conservative parties -- the Christian Democrat Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) -- which now lead the federal government coalition, had previously campaigned
on the intention to undo dual citizenship
and other naturalisation reforms that had passed in 2024 by the former government.
At the beginning of the year, when asked about dual citizenship, CDU leader and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said,
"We are bringing additional problems into the country."
Taking their opposition to the citizenship reforms even further, members of the CSU in Bavaria had called for
returning to an eight-year residence requirement
.
However, the Union parties have softened their tone since forming a coalition pact with the centre-left Social Democrat party (SPD). The SPD was the leading party of the former traffic light coalition government which brought the reforms which reduced the residence requirement for citizenship from eight years to five (and three in some cases).
Now it appears that dual citizenship, and the possibility of naturalisation after five years, is
set to remain
under the current government.
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'Reducing the pull factors to Germany'
Along with the end of 'turbo naturalisation', Interior Minister Dobrindt is set to introduce another draft law on Wednesday that would suspend family reunification for refugees. The SPD had agreed to both changes in their coalition negotiations.
The suspension of family reunification affects people who do not receive asylum in Germany, but are still allowed to stay due to threats of political persecution, torture or the death penalty in their home countries. They would not be allowed to bring family members to Germany for two years, although hardship cases are exempt.
Speaking to
Bild
Dobrindt said: "We have to significantly reduce the pull factors to Germany. This is another way to show that migration policy in Germany has changed."
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Germany's black-red coalition suggests it will work to ensure that Germany remains an attractive place for skilled worker immigrants, but critics suggest that it's anti-immigration policies are jeopardising the country's attractiveness for foreigners.
The Green parties interior politician, Schahina Gambir, told DPA, "The new federal government is relying on symbolic politics at the expense of the weakest...this policy is immoral, it drives a wedge into social cohesion."
With reporting by DPA.