BERLIN: Germany’s parliament has voted to abolish the “fast-track citizenship” option for immigrants, approving controversial legislation championed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative alliance.
The new law introduces a uniform five-year residency requirement for all applicants, removing the previous three-year pathway available to those who had demonstrated exceptional integration. On Wednesday, lawmakers from Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), their coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD), and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) supported the bill, which tightens naturalization rules across the country.
“Naturalization must come at the end of the integration process, not at the beginning,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said during the final Bundestag debate. “The German passport must be available as recognition for successful integration and not as an incentive for illegal migration,” he added.
The SPD — which had originally introduced the fast-track option during its previous administration — accepted the reversal as part of a coalition compromise with Merz’s CDU/CSU earlier this year. SPD deputy parliamentary group leader Sonja Eichwede defended the move, stressing that the number of fast-track cases was relatively small.
She noted that during coalition talks in April, the SPD secured a commitment from the conservatives to preserve “dual citizenship” for immigrants, which she called “more important than keeping the accelerated pathway.”
Opposition lawmakers from The Left and the Greens condemned the decision, warning it would harm integration efforts and represented “a surrender to the far-right AfD’s anti-immigrant propaganda.”
