Germany to abolish 3-year citizenship rule

The new German government is set to abolish the three-year citizenship rule. The decision is being taken to bring about sweeping changes to Germany's citizenship law.

The conservative CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD formed a coalition this week to form a government after the mid-term elections on February 23. The provision for this change is included in the new coalition agreement that will take charge of the state.

The outgoing government led by Olaf Scholz made several changes to simplify the citizenship law. This included the opportunity to grant citizenship to foreigners who have lived in Germany for three years, subject to integration into German society.

There, a provision was added for foreigners to present C1 level German language skills and strong evidence of integration into German society to obtain this three-year citizenship. The conservative CDU/CSU has been criticizing this provision from the beginning.

The new coalition government is going to make changes to this law, which includes the cancellation of the three-year provision. However, the new government is not making any provision regarding the cancellation of German citizenship of dual citizens involved in crimes. In addition, the law of obtaining citizenship after five years will also remain in force.

According to the latest statistics of 2019, a total of 225 Bangladeshis have acquired German citizenship.