New German nationality law prompts surge in applications and political debate.
The new nationality law of Germany has been in force for a week. Since then, foreigners have been able to apply for a German passport after just five years of residence. While naturalization authorities are receiving an enormous influx of applications and are overwhelmed, the SPD and the Union are engaged in a heated debate.
The Union is a political alliance between two parties: the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). The CDU operates in all of Germany except Bavaria, where the CSU functions as its sister party. The Union is generally center-right, advocating for conservative and economic liberal policies.
The SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) is a major center-left political party in Germany. It advocates for social democracy, focusing on policies that promote social justice, workers’ rights, and welfare state principles. The SPD has traditionally been one of the two largest parties in Germany, often competing with the CDU/CSU for political dominance.
The recent change in German nationality law is a significant shift, reducing the residency requirement for naturalization from eight years to five. This has led to a dramatic increase in naturalization applications, highlighting the desire of many long-term residents to become full members of German society.
The new naturalization law is causing an enormous influx of applications to the authorities – and longer waiting times for applicants. Foreigners who are currently applying for naturalization will have to wait months, sometimes even years, for a German passport.
The naturalization authority in Munich expects a waiting time of up to 24 months, but at best twelve months. In Offenbach, where more than 45% of the population does not have German citizenship, applicants have to wait at least 14 months, and in Ludwigshafen an average of one and a half years.
The variation in waiting times across different cities highlights regional disparities in administrative capacity. Cities like Offenbach, with a high percentage of non-citizens, face greater challenges in processing applications promptly. Addressing these disparities requires targeted support and resource allocation to ensure fair and timely processing across all regions.
SPD interior politician Hakan Demir is now calling for municipalities to shorten the processing time for applications. “The long processing times are a problem, also for democracy,” Demir told “FOCUS” magazine. “We have to get back to the point where complete applications are decided within at least six months,” demanded the SPD politician. The 39-year-old politician called on states and municipalities to make progress in digitization and increasing staff numbers.
This move has caused outrage within the Union. “If the SPD is now demanding that the authorities process the case in an impossibly short time, that is hypocritical and populist,” said the Union’s domestic policy spokesman, Alexander Throm.
It was obvious “that the SPD and the Green Party in particular were speculating on grateful new voters with this reform.” Throm accuses the SPD and the Greens of speculating on new voters with the naturalization law. The CDU politician warns: “German citizenship is granted for eternity, there can be no skimping on thoroughness here.”
