Germany Ends Fast-Track Citizenship Rule

Germany’s parliament has abolished the accelerated citizenship law, reinstating a five-year residency rule despite criticism from opposition parties.

German lawmakers have voted to abolish an accelerated citizenship process that allowed certain foreign residents to naturalize after just three years in the country. On Wednesday, the Bundestag (parliament) repealed the fast-track naturalization route – introduced only last year – thereby raising the minimum residency requirement for obtaining German citizenship back to five years in all cases. The expedited 3-year path had been a signature reform of the previous center-left government aimed at attracting skilled immigrants, but it will now be eliminated barely a year after its adoption.

German passports – symbols of citizenship – will now require at least five years of residency in Germany before foreign nationals can obtain one, after the repeal of the 3-year fast-track naturalization option.

A broad majority in the Bundestag supported the rollback. The new governing coalition of Chancellor Friedrich Merz – comprising Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) – voted in favor of scrapping the fast-track scheme, joined by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Only 134 deputies (primarily from the Greens and The Left party) voted against the measure, while 450 voted in favor. Notably, the SPD – which had co-authored the original liberalized citizenship law in the prior “traffic light” coalition – defended this U-turn by arguing that the three-year option was seldom utilized in practice. With the repeal, foreign nationals will again need to reside in Germany at least five years before becoming eligible for a German passport, barring special exceptions. However, other elements of last year’s reform remain intact: the general residency requirement stays at five years (down from the old eight-year rule), and the expanded allowance for dual citizenship is unaffected by this change.

Why Was a Fast-Track Citizenship Path Introduced?

The short-lived fast-track naturalization was part of a broader overhaul of Germany’s citizenship law that took effect in June 2024. Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition (SPD, Greens, and Free Democrats) had sought to modernize the country’s immigration and integration policies. Under that reform, exceptionally well-integrated immigrants – for example, those who achieved very good German language proficiency, performed voluntary community service, or attained notable professional or academic success – were allowed to apply for citizenship after just three years of residency. (Applicants still had to meet standard requirements such as a clean criminal record and the ability to financially support themselves and their family.) The rationale was to reward rapid integration and make Germany more attractive to highly skilled foreign talent. “Germany is in competition to get the best brains in the world, and if those people choose Germany, we should do everything possible to keep them,” argued Green Party lawmaker Filiz Polat during the debate on the reform. Supporters noted that Germany faces acute labor shortages and an aging population, and easing the path to citizenship was intended as an incentive for experts and professionals to settle in Germany.

At the same time, the 2024 law lowered the standard residency requirement for naturalization from eight years to five years for everyone – a major reduction reflecting the country’s more immigrant-friendly stance under the Scholz government. It also relaxed strict rules on dual nationality, allowing new Germans to keep their original citizenship in most cases. These changes brought Germany closer in line with other Western countries and, as the SPD and Greens argued, made the system “more modern, more open and fairer”. “The reform made Germany more open and fair – a more welcoming country,” Green politician Felix Banaszak said at the time, emphasizing that it sent the “right signal” to much-needed foreign workers.

Government’s Justification: “Integration First” Approach

Chancellor Merz’s new government has taken a harder line on immigration and integration, pledging to reverse parts of the prior reforms. Merz, a conservative, campaigned on overturning the fast-track citizenship scheme as part of a promised crackdown on irregular migration and what he viewed as overly lenient policies. “The German passport must be a recognition of successful integration and not an incentive for illegal migration,” asserted Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), praising the repeal as a necessary “clear signal”. From this perspective, granting citizenship too quickly is seen as putting the cart before the horse. Conservative lawmakers argue that citizenship should come after immigrants have truly integrated into German society – “at the end of a period of integration, not jump-start it,” as one policy paper put it. They express concern that shorter wait times might encourage higher migration inflows or undermine public acceptance of immigrants, especially if people feel the coveted German citizenship is being given away too readily.

The government’s move must also be understood in the context of Germany’s political climate. In recent years, public attitudes toward immigration have hardened, amid record refugee arrivals and strains on local services like housing, schools, and welfare programs. That backlash has fueled a surge in support for the far-right AfD, which campaigns on anti-immigration sentiment. AfD has polled in first place in some regions and even came second in Germany’s 2025 general election. Merz’s grand coalition (CDU/CSU and SPD) has responded by adopting more restrictive measures to “send a message” that it is addressing migration and integration concerns. The repeal of “turbo-naturalization” is one such measure, broadly popular among conservative and middle-of-the-road voters who felt the three-year pathway was too lenient. (The AfD, for its part, wanted an even stricter ten-year residency minimum, arguing that “the German passport must not be squandered”.) Alexander Throm, a domestic policy expert from the CDU, summed up the ruling coalition’s stance: “Three years to citizenship is too short. Integration takes time, language ability, and genuine roots in our society” – and only then should full belonging (citizenship) be granted.

The coalition also downplayed the practical significance of the fast-track rule. SPD Deputy Floor Leader Sonja Eichwede noted that “the very quick naturalization after three years was hardly utilized,” calling its elimination “acceptable” from her party’s standpoint. She stressed that even without the three-year option, five years is still a much shorter path to citizenship than before, and is short enough to give sought-after professionals a “perspective to become fully part of our society in the foreseeable future”. In other words, the government contends that Germany can remain welcoming to skilled immigrants with the five-year rule, while the ultra-fast track of three years was not necessary to meet that goal.

Criticism from Opposition and Experts

Opposition parties and civil society groups have strongly criticized the repeal as counterproductive and politically driven. The environmentalist Green Party and the leftist Die Linke (Left Party) accuse the government of capitulating to anti-immigrant sentiment and undoing a policy that was benefiting Germany’s future. “The move sends the wrong signal,” warned Green chairman Felix Banaszak, noting that Germany is “desperate for high-skilled foreign workers to fill jobs” and should not be erecting new hurdles. Green lawmakers argue that if an immigrant does meet the high integration bar in under five years, Germany should welcome them as citizens rather than make them wait. They credit the 2024 reforms with making Germany more attractive to global talent. Filiz Polat of the Greens contended that rolling back the fast-track will make it harder to compete for “the best minds” internationally, at a time when “Germany is in competition” for skilled labor.

The Left Party echoed these concerns and added warnings about the political message being sent. Left Bundestag member Clara Bünger criticized the lack of any transition measures for applicants already in the pipeline. Since naturalization processing can be “unbearably long,” those who applied under the 3-year rule but have not received a decision could now see their hopes dashed by a rule change mid-process. “This is likely to affect many people,” Bünger said, urging the government to at least adopt a transitional regulation so that ongoing applications under the old criteria are honored. Another left-wing lawmaker, Ferat Kocak, accused the grand coalition of legitimizing the AfD’s anti-immigrant rhetoric by rolling back immigrant-friendly policies, calling it a “short-sighted” approach that caters to hate and fear. Kocak argued that rather than restricting citizenship, Germany should consider expanding democratic participation – for instance, by granting local voting rights to all residents who have lived in the country for five years, regardless of citizenship status (a proposal not currently part of German law).

Outside of parliament, immigration experts and welfare organizations have also raised alarm about the decision. The Protestant social welfare group Diakonie Deutschland lamented the end of the turbo-naturalization policy. “Instead of rewarding integration, the government is slowing it down – essentially saying: commitment doesn’t pay off,” said Elke Ronneberger, Diakonie’s head of social policy. “It’s the wrong signal to all who learn German, volunteer, and take on responsibility here,” she added. Ronneberger warned that scrapping incentives for quicker integration will have negative consequences for the labor market: “Germany needs skilled workers – but anyone who sees that integration is being rather slowed than rewarded will go find another country”. Her point is that highly qualified immigrants have options globally, and an immigration policy perceived as unwelcoming could drive talent elsewhere, hurting Germany’s economy in the long run.

Some economists share that view. Martin Werding, a member of Germany’s council of economic advisers, criticized the repeal for neglecting the perspective of would-be skilled immigrants. In a radio interview, Werding argued that efficient naturalization pathways are “part of a good immigration policy” in an aging society like Germany. He suggested that the debate has been skewed by fears of refugees and illegal migration, while forgetting about the economic migrants who “are enormously helpful amid labor shortages”. In other words, policies like the fast-track citizenship were meant to encourage sought-after workers to build their futures in Germany; removing those policies, Werding implies, might deter exactly the kind of people Germany wants to attract.

Was the Fast-Track Option Effective?

One key question in this debate is how much practical impact the three-year naturalization option really had. The evidence so far suggests uptake was minimal, which supporters and opponents of the repeal interpret differently. In 2024, Germany granted citizenship to a record number of people – nearly 292,000 new citizens, the most in modern history (boosted in part by the law change and a catch-up of long-term residents finally naturalizing). Yet only a very small fraction of those naturalizations occurred via the three-year fast-track route. By one estimate, just a few hundred individuals nationwide obtained German passports after around three years’ residency – out of hundreds of thousands of total naturalizations. In Berlin, for example, authorities reported that this “turbo” path accounted for roughly 1% of all new citizens in the city since its introduction. Other states saw similarly low numbers; Bavaria recorded only 78 fast-track cases through the first four months of 2025 (around 0.1% of naturalizations there). In fact, officials noted that the share of three-year naturalizations was declining in 2025 compared to 2024, underscoring the provision’s limited real-world uptake.

These figures bolster the argument made by SPD and CDU proponents of the repeal – namely, that the fast-track was largely symbolic and its removal will not affect the vast majority of immigrants. Even many well-integrated newcomers did not or could not take advantage of the three-year rule, either because it was too new, or because the qualifying criteria (such as exceptional language fluency or civic engagement) were stringent. However, critics counter that the numbers might have grown over time as more people became aware of the opportunity. They also point out that the low usage was partly due to bureaucratic bottlenecks: naturalization applications can take many months to process, so some who applied under the fast-track provision in 2024 have not yet been approved – and now may lose the chance entirely if their processing doesn’t finish before the law changes. For those individuals – highly integrated immigrants who stepped forward to become citizens – the repeal feels like a rug pulled out from under them.

Five-Year Rule and Dual Citizenship Here to Stay

It is important to note that Germany’s citizenship policy is still far more liberal now than it was a few years ago, despite the latest reversal. The standard residency requirement for naturalization remains five years, as lowered by the 2024 reform, instead of the previous eight years that had been law for decades. The new coalition explicitly chose not to revert to the longer wait. In this sense, Germany continues to offer a relatively quicker path to citizenship than it did in the past, even without the 3-year shortcut. Likewise, the possibility of dual citizenship – another centerpiece of the 2024 overhaul – remains in place. Applicants for German nationality generally no longer have to renounce their previous citizenship, a change that has enabled tens of thousands of immigrants (for instance, of Turkish origin) to naturalize who might not have done so before. These elements enjoyed broad support across the mainstream political spectrum and were left untouched by the Merz government. “The accelerated naturalization was not the central lever in the citizenship law,” SPD’s Sonja Eichwede argued, “more important is that dual citizenship and the five-year timeline remain, so that in the global competition for talent we still offer a clear perspective” for integration.

In summary, Germany has pulled back on one aspect of its immigration openness by ending the ultra-fast citizenship track, restoring a uniform five-year waiting period for naturalization. The move reflects an attempt to balance the demands of an aging economy hungry for skilled workers with a public mood that has grown wary of large-scale immigration. While critics decry it as a step backwards that sends an unwelcoming signal, the government insists that integration must come before citizenship – and that a five-year path still provides ample opportunity for committed new immigrants to become Germans in due course. Whether this policy change will indeed reassure skeptical voters or hamper Germany’s ability to attract global talent is now a subject of debate. What is clear is that immigration and integration will remain hot-button issues in Germany, as the nation charts its course between openness and caution in an era of both economic need and social unease.

Why did Germany abolish the three-year fast-track naturalization?

The government argued that citizenship should be the culmination of successful integration, not an early incentive. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the fast-track rule undermined this principle and created the wrong signal at a time of increased irregular migration.

How significant was the three-year rule in practice?

Very limited. In 2025, fewer than 1% of new citizens nationwide used the fast-track route — just 573 in Berlin and 78 in Bavaria. The low numbers gave the government grounds to claim that the measure was mostly symbolic.

Does this mean Germany is closing its doors to immigrants?

Not exactly. While the three-year shortcut is gone, the five-year path — reduced from eight — remains in place, along with the option for dual citizenship. Experts note that Germany still offers one of the more accessible naturalization frameworks in Europe.

How might this affect Germany’s labor market?

Critics fear the repeal will make Germany less attractive to skilled workers. As Diakonie’s Elke Ronneberger warned, “if integration feels punished rather than rewarded, professionals might choose other countries.”

Is there any political motivation behind the repeal?

Analysts suggest the move is partly political. Rising public concern over migration and the surge of the far-right AfD have pressured mainstream parties to tighten policies. The repeal may be aimed at reassuring conservative voters ahead of regional elections.

Sources: arabnews.com dailysabah.com reuters.com evangelisch.de stern.de