The Bundestag made it easier to get German citizenship — now you donʼt have to give up your native one

In Germany, the Bundestag passed a law simplifying the procedure for acquiring German citizenship. 382 deputies voted for, 234 against, 23 abstained, Deutsche Welle reports.

The law should speed up the naturalization of foreigners in Germany — you only need to live in the country for five years instead of the current eight, and if there are special successes in integration, even three years will be enough. This refers to command of the German language, participation in volunteer activities, the presence of professional success and qualifications.

Also, foreigners who have accepted German citizenship will be allowed to keep their former passport. And children of foreigners born in Germany will automatically receive German citizenship if one of their parents has lived in Germany for more than five years. Currently, this only happens if one of the parents has lived in Germany for more than eight years. After reaching the age of maturity, they will not have to choose between German citizenship and the citizenship inherited from their parents, as at present.

This way, Germany seeks to become attractive for qualified specialists.

At the same time, the procedure for acquiring citizenship also includes restrictions for certain categories of people. German passports will be denied to those who commit "anti-Semitic, racist or other acts based on motives that insult human dignity." Another obstacle on the way to German citizenship will be behavior that demonstrates non-recognition of the equality of men and women, as well as polygamy.

• Currently, almost 190,000 men from Ukraine of military age (18 to 60 years old) live in Germany. Such data were reported by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany. According to them, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, almost 222,000 Ukrainian men of draft age have come to the country, but some of them have left the country. It is not known how many of them entered and remained in Germany without violating Ukrainian laws.