Lawmakers in Berlin approved legislation allowing shorter waiting periods before naturalization and the possibility of dual citizenship, ushering in changes that proponents say will draw more skilled workers to the country and that opponents warn will lessen the value of German citizenship.
“Our reform is a commitment to a modern Germany,” Nancy Faeser, the country’s interior minister, said in a statement. “We are creating a modern immigration law that does justice to our diverse society,” she added, noting that it was high time for such a change.
The changes, which were passed by the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament, on Friday with a solid majority, will reduce to five years from eight the number of years that a resident has to wait before applying for citizenship. That waiting period can be reduced to three years for exemplary cases of integration or service to the German state.
They will also allow dual citizenship, which currently is not widely allowed.
Roughly 14 percent of the people living in Germany are not citizens. Acknowledging their work in helping to build the German economy in the 1960s and ’70s, the changes include a stipulation that allows older applicants who came to Germany on guest worker programs to obtain citizenship without having to take a written exam.
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