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German passport: According to government plans, those willing to immigrate should be able to keep their old citizenship in addition to their German one.
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
In future, anyone who wants to be naturalized in Germany should no longer have to give up their citizenship of their family's country of origin.
This emerges from a draft by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which was forwarded to the other departments of the Federal Government for approval.
The project agreed in the coalition agreement for a "modern nationality law" also relaxes the requirements for acquiring the German language for certain groups.
This is usually a prerequisite for naturalization.
In addition, the minimum period of stay until the application is submitted will be shortened.
These changes are in the draft
There should be simplifications in the language test.
The obligation to take a naturalization test for all immigrants who are at least 67 years old should be abolished.
There should also be a hardship regulation regarding the language certificate for younger people who want to naturalise.
In justified exceptional cases, for example because a family member needs care, it should then be sufficient for the person concerned to be able to communicate orally in German in everyday life without any significant problems.
In general, people should have the opportunity to naturalize after five years of residence in Germany.
Previously they had to have lived in Germany for eight years.
In the case of special integration achievements, such as outstanding achievements in school and work, voluntary work or particularly good language skills, a three-year stay should be sufficient.
In the future, one parent will only have to live in Germany for five years instead of the previous eight years for the child born to receive German citizenship.
"Due to the significant reduction in the length of stay for one parent, the number of children of foreign parents who acquire German citizenship by being born in Germany will increase," says the draft.
That should be removed from the law
The so-called option obligation is to be abolished.
Children of immigrants who were born in Germany no longer have to choose between German citizenship and their parents' citizenship.
The requirement »classification into German living conditions« introduced in 2019 is to be deleted.
However, naturalization is out of the question if "the foreigner is married to several spouses at the same time or if he shows through his behavior that he does not accept the equality of men and women laid down in the Basic Law," says the draft.
Union: "Sell off German citizenship"
When the traffic light government's first ideas for the planned reform of citizenship law became known, the Union sharply criticized the plans.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said: "Selling off German citizenship does not promote integration, but actually aims to do the opposite and will trigger additional pull effects in illegal migration." The parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), admitted that Germany is an immigration country and relies on migration for the job market.
At the same time, he emphasized: "But that doesn't mean that you throw your German passport around everywhere."
jpa/dpa
