“Turbo naturalization” abolished again – what now applies

The “turbo naturalization” for particularly well-integrated foreigners introduced by the traffic light coalition is history again. With the votes of the black-red coalition and the AfD, the Bundestag decided to abolish the regulation that was only introduced last year. Instead of three years, those affected will have to live in Germany regularly for at least five years before they can receive a German passport.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) explained that naturalization is at the end of an integration process and not at the beginning: “The German passport must be available as a recognition of successful integration and not as an incentive for illegal migration.”

However, only a few immigrants had benefited from the previous special regulation anyway. In June of this year, a survey by the German Press Agency showed that accelerated naturalization was only used in a few hundred cases nationwide.

The reform of the previous government was a thorn in the side of the Union parties from the start. That is why the abolition had already been agreed in the black-red coalition agreement.

The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Sonja Eichwede said, referring to the low number of cases, that accelerated naturalization is not the central lever in citizenship law. It is more important that the possibility of dual nationality remains.

However, clear criticism of the reversal came from the Greens and the Left. The coalition’s “backward-looking policy” is damaging integration, said Filiz Polat, parliamentary director of the Green parliamentary group. Ferat Kocak from the Left even accused the CDU and CSU: “With your migration policy you are making the AfD’s hatred socially acceptable.”

Federal government bill, resolution recommendation with changes