German government set to approve lower barriers to citizenship

Obtaining German citizenship may become easier in the future according to legislation set to be approved by the German Cabinet on Wednesday.

In principle, immigrants should be able to obtain a German passport more quickly, though there are conditions on economic and democratic integration.

The draft, seen by dpa, explicitly excludes naturalization for people who have committed crimes for anti-Semitic or racist reasons.

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has described the draft law as key to maintaining Germany's competitiveness.

"We are in the middle of a global competition for the best minds," Faeser told the Redaktionsnetzwerk news service on Wednesday.

"But we will only win the best minds if they can become fully part of our society in the foreseeable future," she said.

The bill put forward by Faeser also allows for multiple citizenship, marking another substantial shift in German policy until now.

The bill was part of plans announced by the centre-left coalition government under Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, which came to power in December 2021 after over a decade and a half of conservative-led government in Europe's largest economy.