The government of Germany has delayed its plans to introduce a dual citizenship law again after some disagreements.
Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FPD) and its fellow governing parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens disagreed on a modification that would not allow for non-EU residents in Germany who have claimed unemployment benefits to hold dual citizenship.
While the modification would mean that none of the third-country residents who received unemployment benefits such as “Arbeitslosengeld” or “Bürgergeld” would be eligible for dual citizenship, SPD did not agree with it.
According to I Am Expat Germany, the SPD does not want these rules to apply to migrants from Türkiye who are of the Gastarbeiter generation, who moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973 for the purpose of seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme.
The same required that stricter rules also do not apply to disabled residents of other non-EU countries who may have received benefits from the German government in the past.
The new dual citizenship law of Germany was planned to become effective in the first half of 2024. However, taking into account the recent development, the approval of the dual citizenship law may take longer than expected.
With the approval of the dual citizenship law, many people who have been residing in Germany legally for a period of five years will be permitted to apply to obtain a German passport. Moreover, they will also be permitted to keep their original nationality and, thus, have dual citizenship.
Moreover, the entry into force of the law also means less strict rules for some categories of non-EU nationals.
Those who have successfully acquired the German language, as well as those who have reached impressive levels of achievement in their work, will not have to wait for more than three years to obtain citizenship, I Am Expat Germany explains.
In line with the current laws in Germany, those who receive social security benefits are very unlikely to be granted German citizenship. Such a rule is not expected to change even with the approval of the dual citizenship law.
The new law is also not expected to be generous to carers and children. Children who have been born in another country and whose parents receive social security benefits will most likely have their citizenship application rejected.
The same is also likely to happen to those who do not work because they are not able to or because they have to take care of individuals dependent on them.
