Dhe plans of the federal government to reform nationality law do not justify Germany in an international comparison. This emerges from a brief legal report by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to lower the requirements for naturalization.
Up to now, a foreigner has had to have his “lawful habitual residence” in Germany for eight years, in addition to other requirements, or six for special integration services. In the future, five years should be enough, with special integration services only three. “With a period of six to eight years, Germany is in the upper midfield in an international comparison,” says the report. A period of five years applies in France, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. In Switzerland, Lithuania and Spain it is ten years, in Ireland and Canada only three.
Allow dual citizenship
However, there are differences in the question of when the period begins, in the USA and Canada only when the foreigner already has the status of “permanent resident”. In Germany, the average length of stay before naturalization was 15.2 years, almost twice as long as the statutory period. Faeser also wants to accept dual citizenship in the future. According to the report, multiple citizenship is permitted or at least partially permitted in a large part of the European countries as well as in Canada and the USA. The conclusion of the Adenauer Foundation is: Faeser’s plans are “a reform, but not a revolution”.
