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Population: Government plan for easier naturalization, with conditions

Population: Government plan for easier naturalization, with conditions

The coalition wants to modernize the rules according to which foreigners living here can get a German passport. Further prerequisites are planned for this – and the debate continues.

Naturalization should be easier in Germany – but with conditions for economic and democratic integration. Plans for a new citizenship law, on which the federal government has agreed in general terms, provide for this.

The German passport should be expressly excluded for people who have committed crimes for anti-Semitic or racist motives. A prerequisite should also be that you can generally earn your living without social benefits. Politicians in the traffic light coalition welcomed the plans, but criticism came from the opposition.

Faeser: Commit to life in diverse society

The guidelines emerge from a revised draft law that the Ministry of the Interior published on Friday. Department head Nancy Faeser (SPD) said: “We want people who have become part of our society to be able to help shape our country democratically.” Good examples such as Canada show that this perspective is also crucial in order to attract urgently needed skilled workers. At the same time, she emphasized: “Anyone who becomes German is committed to life in our free and diverse society.” Therefore, racism, anti-Semitism or any other form of misanthropy are opposed to naturalization.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told the German Press Agency: “People who are well integrated here and who live from the work of their hands should be able to become Germans more easily in the future.” That is fair and also in the interest of everyone who lives in this country. “We need qualified immigration,” said the FDP politician. Therefore, the path to naturalization should not be a gauntlet run. At the same time it is clear: “Immigration into the social security systems is not in our interest.” Nationality law should not be an invitation to do so. With the new law, Germany can finally take a big step towards becoming a modern immigration country.

Only five instead of eight years in Germany

The draft is now going to the federal states and associations for approval. The core of the plans, for which a first draft had already been made known at the beginning of the year, are shorter minimum stays for naturalization: instead of eight years in Germany, five years should be sufficient in future. In the case of special integration services, it should also be three years. “That applies to people who speak German very well, achieve excellent results at work or do voluntary work,” said Faeser. She emphasized the “long overdue paradigm shift” that multiple citizenships should generally be allowed.

Specifically, the current draft provides for some additional provisions. First the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported about it:

Faeser said: “We want to honor the enormous lifetime achievements of the guest worker generation for our country.” Therefore, special relief should come for them. In the case of older people who came to the Federal Republic with recruitment agreements up to 1974, written language certificates and naturalization tests should be dispensed with. It should be enough for them if they have spoken German language skills. It is also planned for contract workers who came to the GDR before 1990. Naturalization certificates are to be handed over publicly in the future. If possible, this should be done “in a solemn form and using the national symbols”, according to the draft. “Naturalization is a big reason to celebrate,” said Faeser. The exclusion of naturalization in the case of criminal offenses should be specified. If you want a German passport, you have to commit to the values ​​of a free society now. In the future, the following should be specified: “Anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic or other inhumanely motivated actions are incompatible with the basic law’s guarantee of human dignity (…) and violate the free democratic basic order”. A prerequisite should be that you earn a living for yourself and your Family basically denies without social benefits. Exceptions are to apply to guest workers who came to the Federal Republic before 1974 and contract workers who entered the GDR before 1990. For example, losing a job through no fault of your own should be “harmless” for naturalization. Exceptions should generally also apply to full-time employees who have been employed for at least 20 months in the past two years.

Opposition is skeptical

Union interior expert Alexander Throm (CDU) called the legislative plans a wrong signal. “A citizenship is granted for eternity.” He thinks three to five years is too short for an exam. The law increases the risk of premature naturalization of people who are not sufficiently integrated. Union parliamentary group manager Thorsten Frei (CDU) told the newspapers of the Funke media group that the law breaks with previous law. “It leads to a devaluation of German citizenship.”

Greens interior expert Lamya Kaddor emphasized that Germany has long been a country of immigration. “It is high time to take this reality into account with a contemporary, modern nationality law.” Time is of the essence. It is good that countries and civil society are now involved. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, around 10.7 million people with foreign nationality were living in Germany at the end of 2021, 5.7 million of whom have been here for at least ten years.

Source: Stern

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