Will dual citizenship be abolished?
Federal politicians are discussing the abolition of dual citizenship
A change in the law only came into force in summer 2024, making dual citizenship the new standard in Germany. Since then, anyone who wants to be naturalized in this country no longer has to give up the nationality of their country of origin. However, there is resistance to dual citizenship in federal politics. In recent days, members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in particular have brought up the idea of abolishing the "dual passport" regulations.
But how likely is it that the German government will really back down and abolish dual citizenship again?
And what can you do to best prepare for this scenario?
The lawyers at RT & Partner will explain it to you!
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Shahroch Taleqani
Overview
Table of contents
The essentials
- What happened?
Politicians from the CDU and CSU are increasingly criticizing general dual citizenship; the SPD opposes it - Will dual citizenship be abolished?
Abolition seems unlikely at the moment - What can you do?
Apply for naturalization early
Abolish dual citizenship - what the parties say
In recent days, politicians from the CDU and CSU parties involved in the current government have increasingly gone to the press to express criticism of the dual citizenship introduced by the "traffic light" government. CSU interior politician Stephan Mayer, for example, told the Bild newspaper: "As a country, we have to ask ourselves whether we still want dual citizenship and whether we can still afford it." CDU MP Cornell-Anette Babendererde also had her say there, calling for dual citizenship to be "the exception, not the rule."
Criticism of these statements has come not only from the opposition, but also from the coalition partner in the federal government. For example, SPD interior politician Sebastian Fiedler told ZDFheute that dual citizenship is "a model of success for immigration countries like Germany". Fiedler also referred to the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD. In April, the parties reached the following compromise: "We are abolishing 'turbo naturalization' after three years. In addition, we are sticking to the reform of citizenship law."
Will dual citizenship now be abolished?
In fact, given the wording in the coalition agreement, it is unlikely that the governing parties will agree to abolish dual citizenship. If this had been politically desirable, the CDU/CSU and SPD would not have been able to decide on such a change until the beginning of October. That was when the Bundestag voted to abolish accelerated naturalization after three years of residence for particularly well-integrated foreigners, the so-called "turbo naturalization". This would have been an opportunity to also discuss the abolition of dual citizenship. However, this did not happen.
In the foreseeable future, a repeal of dual citizenship for all would therefore only be possible if the CDU and CSU voted together with the AfD. Their representatives have been signaling for some time that they consider the current regulation to be wrong. However, it is extremely unlikely that the CDU/CSU will work together against their own government partner, the SPD.
Current legal situation regarding dual nationality
In all likelihood, the current legal situation on dual citizenship will therefore remain in place for the time being. It stipulates that foreign nationals who wish to be naturalized in Germany no longer have to give up the nationality of their country of origin.
This was achieved by deleting section 10 para. 1 no. 4 of the Citizenship Act (StAG) in June 2024(amendment 27.06.2024). Until then, this provision stated that naturalization was only possible if the old citizenship was renounced. As a result of the deletion, any applicant for naturalization can in principle keep their previous passport. The only requirement is that the country of origin also allows dual citizenship. You can find out in which countries in the world this is the case and in which countries the previous citizenship automatically expires upon naturalization in Germany in our overview of the legal situation worldwide.
Incidentally, Germans living abroad also benefit from this legal situation. Under the old legal situation, if they wanted to obtain citizenship of another country, they first had to apply for a retention permit in order not to lose their German passport. Since the abolition in June 2024, this is no longer necessary.
What you can do now
It is obvious that dual citizenship has many advantages. It allows you to finally become an official German citizen without having to give up your ties to your home country. Therefore, it would be a serious blow to foreigners who have not yet been naturalized if dual citizenship were to be abolished again. Although such a change in the law is unlikely, at least in this legislative period, it may still be worthwhile to prepare for it. The best way to do this is to apply for naturalization early on. Once you have dual citizenship, you will no longer be affected by subsequent changes in the law, even by those made by future governments.
As the naturalization authorities are currently dealing with a large number of applications, processing times are usually well over a year in some cases. We therefore advise you not to delay too long with your application if you meet the requirements for naturalization - and to check whether this is the case, we recommend our free naturalization check.