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Changes to German Law Help Boost Naturalization Numbers
By Veysel Oezcan
Humboldt University Berlin
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August 2003
Changes to Germany's citizenship law in 2000 appear to be having their intended
effect of facilitating the naturalization of foreign residents, as shown by new
figures released by the Ministry of the Interior.
The average annual number of naturalizations for the years 2000 to 2003 was
173,100, far outstripping the average of 110,990 for the period 1997-1999,
according to Interior Minister Otto Schily. The minister, a Social Democrat,
was instrumental in changing the law in response to the demands of his party's
junior coalition partner, the Green Party, and other organizations including
trade unions and the Roman Catholic Church.
The amended law altered the prerequisites for naturalization in two ways.
First, it lowered the required period of continuous residence in Germany prior
to application from 15 years to eight. In addition, minor children and spouses
of foreign residents applying for citizenship can be naturalized with fewer
years of continuous residence. Second, applicants must now demonstrate a
sufficient knowledge of German, a requirement that did not previously exist.
Third, foreigners who wish to naturalize must not have a criminal record and
must pledge their commitment to the tenets of the German Constitution.
A large part of the overall increase in naturalizations following the 2000
changes is likely due to immigrants rushing to take advantage of the newly
loosened provisions, particularly the shortened residency requirements. With
such opportunities opened, the number of naturalizations shot up from a
pre-legislative changes peak of 143,270 in 1999, reaching 187,000 just one year
later in 2000.
Naturalizations began to taper off following 2000, however, perhaps due to
the expiration of a temporary clause that gave children of foreign parents born
in Germany the right to naturalize. Applications under this one-time clause were
filed for nearly 28,000 children, boosting the upward spike already under way
thanks to the newly amended law.
Further padding the overall number of naturalizations in the post-2000 period
were tens of thousands of people whose applications fell under the provisions
of the law as it stood before the new amendments. These naturalizations, while
making up a large proportion of the overall numbers post-2000, have been
steadily declining in number even as naturalizations under the new law's
provisions have been increasing.
Source: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office of Germany)
By 2002, naturalization applications under the pre-2000 law's paragraph
requiring 15 years of continuous habitual residence represented less than nine
percent of all applications. By comparison, the number of naturalizations
taking place under the post-2000 law's paragraph regarding eight years of
continuous habitual residence and the requirement of sufficient knowledge of
German has continued to increase, growing from 73,200 in 2000 to 112,600 in
2002, representing a 54 percent increase. By 2002, naturalization applications
under the post-2000 law accounted for about 73 percent of all applications. As
shown below, the number of applications for naturalization under other
regulations, for example, the naturalizations of foreign spouses of Germans,
has remained relatively small and constant.
Source: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office of Germany)
Populations in Focus
As in the previous years, former Turkish citizens made up the largest group
with 64,631 naturalizing in 2002, accounting for 42 percent of the total. Other
significant groups included Iranians (13,026, or 8.4 percent), former
Yugoslavs (8,375, or 5.4 percent) and Afghans (4,750, or 3.1 percent).
The latest naturalization numbers also show differences among the sixteen
federal states that are responsible for implementing the new law. While in
Berlin (6.9 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (7.8 percent) there was an increase in
the number of naturalizations, they declined in North-Rhine Westphalia (17.7
percent), Bavaria (14.2 percent) and most of the other states. The reasons for
the differences among the states are unclear.
However, one factor could be the composition of their foreign population
according to country of origin. Citizens of the European Union, for example,
are generally less likely to naturalize. Variations in administrative practices
among the states could also influence naturalization rates.
The Ministry of Interior also announced that 41.5 percent of all persons
naturalized in 2002 were allowed to retain their former citizenship, compared
with 48.3 percent in 2001. The large share of dual citizens is surprising
because it is an official policy to avoid approving multiple nationalities.
Dual citizenship is allowed only as an exception—for example, if the country of
origin does not release nationals from citizenship, if losing former
citizenship would cause economic hardships such as the loss of rights to
inheritance or land ownership, or if the applicant is an approved asylum
seeker.
Originally, the government wanted to allow dual citizenship, but this plan
failed because of strong opposition from the conservative Christian Democrats.
Furthermore, under the new law, Germans as a rule lose their German citizenship
when they acquire another nationality. This measure was introduced in 2000 to
discourage foreigners from applying for their former citizenship after they had
been naturalized in Germany.
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