The Bundestag supported the abolition of “turbo-naturalization” - the practice of obtaining German citizenship in three years

The German Parliament (Bundestag), at a meeting on Wednesday, October 8, supported amendments to the German migration legislation, which will abolish the possibility of obtaining a passport under an accelerated procedure in three years. The German publication Welt writes about this.

The so-called turbo naturalization assumed that a foreigner could obtain a German passport after three years of residence in the country, subject to “successful integration”: for example, he knows German at the C1 level or is actively involved in volunteer activities.

The corresponding law was adopted at the beginning of 2024 and came into force in June of the same year. It also provided for a reduction in the period of residence in the country required to obtain citizenship from eight to five years. As Welt notes, the abolition of “turbo-naturalization” does not affect this rule.

The abolition of the right to accelerated acquisition of citizenship was spelled out in the coalition agreement of the bloc of Christian parties CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Deutsche Welle emphasizes . In May, Germany's new interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, called the "turbo-naturalization" program a mistake, saying it created "additional perverse incentives" for illegal migration.

At the same time, the refusal to expedite the procedure for obtaining a passport is criticized by representatives of the Green Party and the parliamentary faction of the Left Party. According to Green leader Felix Banaszak, the 2024 reform has made Germany “more modern, open and fair”.

As DW notes, in order for the law to be finally adopted, the relevant amendments must be accepted not only by the Bundestag, but also by the Bundesrat, the representative office of the federal states of Germany.