The German government is expected to approve this summer a bill that will make it easier to obtain German citizenship – one of the most coveted citizenships in the world.
According to the draft legislation published by the Ministry of the Interior in Germany, the waiting times for naturalization applicants will be shortened to only 5 years, compared to the waiting time of at least 8 years as per the current law. Also, the complicated and bureaucratic process, which includes a language test and an integration test and lasts about two years from the moment the application is submitted, is expected to be less rigid. After the approval of the bill in Germany, a person who demonstrates impressive language skills or has a profession considered very essential for Germans will be able to apply for citizenship after only 3 years of residence in the country.
Germany today is one of the most difficult countries to obtain citizenship, the aforementioned law is expected to change this significantly. German citizenship is so desirable because it gives visa relief to many countries in the world, such as the USA, and because as a country in the European Union, citizenship there will allow immigration more easily to almost all European countries.
Following the bill, much criticism was heard in Germany that Germany is expected to become a country of immigrants because of these concessions. The Minister of the Interior replied to the critics: “Germany needs immigration. The birth rate in the country is very low, and without those ‘imported’ people, Germany will not be able to deal with the shortage in certain professions. Even today, even though there are two million unemployed in the country, there is a shortage of manpower in certain professions, As in the nursing professions, teaching and the various technological professions.”
The German government also replied that in order to prevent potential terrorists from obtaining citizenship, any person found guilty of a certain crime, (including crimes on an anti-Semitic background, and marriage with more than one wife) as well as a person who does not believe in the values on which Germany is founded (such as the value of equality), will not be allowed to receive German citizenship .
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