News about Germany

[Beauty BeastParticipant]

Germany’s parliament votes on easing dual citizenship

Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, was on Friday set to vote on easing the law on naturalization and widening access to dual citizenship.

The German government says the law should help make Germany more attractive to skilled workers internationally, helping to ease stifling labor shortages.

“We have to keep pace in the race to attract skilled labor,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser ahead of the vote.

“That means we need to make an offer to qualified people from the world over, just as the United States and Canada do. German citizenship is obviously part of that.”

What are the rule changes?

Under the new law, foreigners would be able to apply for a German passport after five instead of eight years in Germany. In cases where applicants are “exceptionally well integrated,” naturalization would be possible after three years.

Dual nationality is usually only allowed for citizens of other EU countries or Switzerland, although it is permitted for other immigrants in certain exceptional cases.

The loosening of the rules would make it possible to gain direct access to dual citizenship no matter where the applicant comes from.

That would allow tens of thousands of Turks, including third-generation immigrants whose parents and grandparents arrived from the 1950s to 1970s as “guest workers,” to become citizens and voters.

While the legislation is broadly aimed at making naturalization easier, the government wants to make it more difficult for people who cannot support themselves or who do not support the “free, democratic basic order in Germany.”

Conservative opposition to changes
The opposition conservative Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union, who oppose the new rules, are demanding changes that will “preserve the value of German citizenship.”

They are seeking a tougher line on immigration in an effort to stem the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has enjoyed a surge in the polls.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government itself has promised a tougher line on certain types of immigration, promising faster deportations of illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers.

Germany to speed up deportation of rejected asylum-seekers

0

0

[Author]

Posts