OUR Germany is close to passing a new citizenship law that will make it easier for foreigners to acquire German citizenship.

The bill is considered a “small revolution” in relation to immigrants living in Germany, and goes against the trend of neighboring countries to tighten rather than weaken the relevant criteria, comments the Financial Times.

If the bill passes parliament, foreigners will be allowed to apply for citizenship after five years of residence in Germany instead of the eight years currently required.

It also provides that “those who have made special efforts to integrate, such as learning German well, doing volunteer work or doing well in school, can apply after three years.”

Double citizenship

For the parties supporting the bill, its most important feature is lift the ban on dual citizenship for citizens from countries outside the European Union.

“Many people in this country hybrid personalities and our legislation needs to reflect that,” said Lamia Kantor, a spokeswoman for the Greens’ internal affairs department. Kantor herself is the daughter of immigrants from Syria. “The idea that you only have one homeland is completely outdated,” he says.

The FT writes that the impact on German society could be enormous if the law were passed. About 10 million people live in Germany without a German passport, about 12% of the total population. About 5.7 million of them have lived in the country for at least 10 years.

From a democratic theory point of view, “it’s a clear problem that so many people who have lived here for so long cannot vote and have no say in the laws that affect them,” commented Niklas Harder of the German Center for Social Research. Integration and migration (DeZIM).

Benefits of Faster Naturalization

According to him, studies have shown the benefits of accelerating naturalization. The share of women in the labor market is increasing and children are doing better in school. There are studies from Switzerland that show how naturalization leads to higher incomes, higher pensions, more membership in clubs and unions…”In short, greater social cohesionHarder adds.

The citizenship bill is just one of a series of reforms promised by Chancellor Olaf Solz’s coalition of social democrats, greens and liberals aimed at modernizing German society after 16 years of rule by Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Merkel.

The coalition also agreed on plans to legalize cannabis, lower the voting age to 16, and make it easier to declare transgender.

The citizenship reform is arguably the biggest since 2000, when a law was passed allowing the children of immigrant parents to automatically acquire German citizenship for the first time.

The citizenship bill will be combined with immigration reform based on Canada’s points system and aims to make it easier for skilled workers with certain skills to enter Germany. Candidates will no longer need to prove that they have a professional qualification recognized in Germany, just relevant work experience and a promise (ss prior agreement) to work in the country.

Source: Financial Times.