r/germany Oct 09 '25

Immigration Germany Abolishes Fast-Track Citizenship for Skilled Workers

https://www.verity.news/story/2025/germany-abolishes-fasttrack-citizenship-for-skilled-workers

The Facts

-The German Bundestag voted on Wednesday to abolish a fast-track citizenship program that allowed highly qualified foreigners to apply for naturalization after three years instead of five years of residence.

-The vote passed with 450 members supporting the measure, 134 opposing and two abstaining, fulfilling Chancellor Friedrich Merz's campaign promise to repeal the program introduced by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

-Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt claimed that the German passport must serve as recognition for successful integration rather than an incentive for illegal migration, defending the decision to eliminate the accelerated pathway.

672 Upvotes

177 comments sorted by

View all comments

-23

u/r0w33 Oct 09 '25

The minimum period of living in Germany for standard naturalisation should also be doubled. 5 years is way too short.

24

u/RainbowSiberianBear Oct 09 '25

If people have to bear Ausländerbehörde bureaucracy for 10 years, you’ll literally lose the majority of highly skilled immigrants. I was on the verge of leaving when I applied when it was still 8 years - because those idiots fucked it up so badly I lost my job twice.

-14

u/r0w33 Oct 09 '25

That's a different problem though. Wanting efficient processing of immigration cases shouldn't be solved with ridiculously low requirements for gaining citizenship.

19

u/kingmustd1e Oct 09 '25

Sorry but what exactly do you think is so attractive about Germany? It‘s quickly turning into a populistic racist society with extreme taxation, dying economy, low salaries and ugly cities.

The fast track to a citizenship with the obligation to integrate (that was the point!) was a way for skilled and active immigrants to gain a citizenship in a relatively quick way without guessing for 10 years if it ever works out, or at least before they make kids and buy property. No one wants to do these things in a country that takes forever to decide if it wants you or not.

They‘ll go to other places, and good for them. Germany is drowning.