German lawmakers on Friday approved a bill making it easier to acquire German nationality and expanding dual citizenship options. The draft law is largely intended to alleviate the labour shortage plaguing Europe’s largest economy.
The bill, proposed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government and ratified by the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, now allows foreigners to apply for German citizenship after five years of residency, down from the previous eight years.
In his weekly podcast, the Social Democratic leader celebrated the approval of the law. “You are part of Germany,” he said in a message to "all those who have lived and worked for a long time" in the country.
The new rules would also enable more people to hold dual nationality. This benefits Germany’s substantial Turkish community of about 1.5 million nationals, in particular.
In the USA, being “German-American” is commonplace, Scholz commented. “I believe this sense of being German and Italian, or German and Turkish, reflects the reality of many of our compatriots in this country," he added. "Acknowledging this is a matter of respect.”
In Germany, dual citizenship was hitherto reserved for citizens of the European Union and Switzerland.
“Our reform is crucial for the German economy’s position,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stressed, following the law’s passage in the Bundestag.
“We are at the heart of a global competition to attract the brightest minds," she added. "We urgently need skilled labour in numerous sectors of our economy.”
With a population approaching 82 million, Germany is grappling with an ageing demographic profile that exacerbates workforce shortages.
