The German government has presented its new citizenship law this Wednesday (23.08.2023). The legislation proposed by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will make dual citizenship easier as well as naturalization for non-EU citizens.<
The new citizenship plans boil down to these changes:
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Immigrants legally living in Germany will be allowed to apply for citizenship after five years, rather than the current eight; and if they have special achievements this can go down to only three years
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Children born in Germany of at least one parent who has been living legally in the country for five or more years will automatically get German citizenship;
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Immigrants above the age of 67 will be able to do an oral instead of a written German language test
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Multiple citizenships will be allowed
People living entirely on state support will not be eligible for German citizenship. German citizenship will be denied to people who have committed antisemitic, racist, xenophobic or other defamatory offenses that are seen to be “unreconcilable with commitment to the free democratic basic order.”
The new legislation will be debated in parliament and could come into effect in the fall.<
The usual suspects are against it:
The opposition center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which has consistently blocked any reforms in the past, is opposed to the changes. “German citizenship is something very precious, and one should treat it very carefully,” CDU leader Friedrich Merz told public broadcaster ARD when the first draft was published in December 2022.
The far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is strictly opposed to the planned changes. "At a time, when two-thirds of Germans do not want naturalization to be simplified. A “sell-out (Verramschung) of the citizenship” is just intended to cover up a lack of integration and to “fudge” statistics, said AfD lawmaker Gottfried Curio during a debate on immigration in the federal parliament, the Bundestag, in May 2023.
Lol, of course they are. I’ll be glad watching these morons suffer in the nursing home once they’re old. There won’t be enough people around to wipe their asses or shower them.
And I’m including all the old, politically illiterate people who are dumb enough to cast their vote for these parties every single time, notwithstanding the fact that these parties are always betraying their very own interests.
This is a good step, but from experiences of friends and family:
The real problem with the immigration process here is that the Ausländerbehörden (the municipal departments dealing with immigration) are so incredibly understaffed which makes the immigration process hell for anyone applying without hiring a (for many too expensive) lawyer.
My ex-gf qualified for citizenship but wanted this confirmed and it took months to get someone on the phone. She then had to send her ORIGINAL birth certificate in and they only confirmed that it had arrived 8 months after sending it (not an extreme case according to other friends) and if you call them to ask if it has arrived you get literally yelled at.
My cousin also married an American and he reported the same, as well as multiple other friends: for whatever you want, it is many months of waiting time between every single appointment. For getting citizenship this sucks for many reasons, but it is even worse for all the people who can and want to work here, but will need years to get a work visa, even if you clearly qualify.
I am 100% for making it easier to obtain citizenship, but passig laws like this without massively expanding processing capacity will only make the reality of obtaining citizenship even worse.
Multiple citizenships shouldn’t be allowed.
No one “is” their citizenship or we would not have Reichsbürger that all have only one citizenship and shit on it.
Also only naming Turkish people when it comes to dual citizenship but not having anything against, let’s say Americans with both says more about you than dual citizenship says about people who want it/already have it.
And after Germany denying to be an immigration country for 80 years it is time that we as a country make clear “yes we want you as a citizen”. That many people haven’t committed to Germany, especially ones with Turkish roots stems a lot from us not having wanted them here for a very long time and expecting their parents or grand parents to go back. That’s why solely German speaking countries have the word “Gastarbeiter” (guest worker), there is no such word in other countries.
That in Europe “immigrant” is such a bad word that some have invented the word “expat”, so they can live in a different country than they were born in and have citizenship in, but can distinguish themselves from pesky immigrants.
I am very sure you have never talked to someone with dual citizenship, right? You just make up who they are and what they want and why they want dual citizenship in your mind. This is not the threat you think it is.
So just a gut reaction? Cool.
There are plenty of good reasons to have dual nationality.
Im not OP, but I read one reason the ither day that made sense to me.
Those with double nationality will never fully commit to Germany, because if they fuck up, they can always go back to their og countries.
In case contrary, if they had only german citizenship, then its commit or commit. I mean they can probably alwys go back to their og countries, but at least it would be not so easy without double citizenship.
What do you mean with “fuck up”?. Also, having only their original citizenship didn’t prevent them from leaving their original countries, why would having two have any effect on mobility? I think people are more likely to stay if they can participate in society (voting) than if they are feeling constantly as foreign.
At least the current implementation of dual citizenship seems to only come with advantages, but not any drawbacks for the person holding the dual citizenship. And it that’s the case one must ask why Germany (or any country for that matter) is seemingly incentivizing people to acquire a dual citizenship.
Also from what I understand dual citizenship essentially only comes with disadvantages to the country or countries permitting their citizens from holding dual citizenship. If that’s the case, why should a country allow its citizens to hold dual citizenship?
I’d be really curious to hear why a country should allow dual citizenship outside of possible attracting a small number of people who would not attempt to acquire that country’s citizenship if it meant they’d have to renounce their previous citizenship.
