October 20, 2025
In a significant policy reversal that underscores Germany’s shifting stance on immigration, the Bundestag voted on October 8, 2025, to abolish the country’s controversial three-year fast-track citizenship pathway. The decision marks the end of a program that had barely gotten off the ground before political winds changed direction.
The Bottom Line – Germany Ends Fast Track Citizenship
Germany’s “turbo citizenship” is officially over. Highly integrated foreign nationals must now wait the standard five years before applying for citizenship, regardless of their German language proficiency or civic engagement. However, other 2024 reforms remain intact, including dual citizenship rights and the reduced residency requirement from eight to five years.
German Citizenship by Descent Not Affected
The changes involving the end of fast-track German citizenship will not affect German citizenship by descent applicants.
The changes have consequences for prospective dual citizenship applicants, and this article aims to break down the changes for those trying to understand which direction EU citizenship policies are moving in.
What Was Fast-Track Citizenship?
Introduced in June 2024 as part of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s comprehensive citizenship reform, the fast-track pathway allowed exceptionally well-integrated foreign residents to apply for German citizenship after just three years of residence instead of the standard five.
According to Deutsche Welle, applicants needed to:
- Demonstrate advanced German language skills at the C1 level.
- Show proof of exceptional integration through volunteering or professional achievement.
- Show financial independence.
The program was designed to reward those who had demonstrated a deep commitment to German society and to attract skilled workers in a country facing demographic decline.
The Vote: A Rare Coalition Agreement
The repeal passed decisively on Wednesday, October 8, with 450 members voting in favor, 134 opposed, and two abstentions, according to ARD public broadcaster.
The legislative amendment, submitted as Drucksache 21/1634 by the Committee on Internal Affairs, represented one of the few measures where Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their coalition partners in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) could find common ground.
The vote also secured support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the largest opposition party after doubling its seats in the February 2025 federal election. InfoMigrants reported that this marked one of the rare instances in which the AfD aligned with the governing coalition on legislative matters.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Perhaps most striking was just how few people actually used the fast-track option. An ARD Capital Studio survey conducted in July 2025 revealed extraordinarily low uptake across Germany:
- Berlin: 573 applications (just 1.02% of all citizenship applications)
- Bavaria: 78 applications (approximately 0.14%)
- Baden-Württemberg: 16 cases in 2024
- Rhineland-Palatinate: 20 applications
- Lower Saxony: 4 applications
- Hamburg: 3 applications
- Bremen: None
According to Tagesschau, in total, fewer than 1,000 people nationwide applied for the fast-track pathway during its brief 16-month existence. The program’s minimal impact made it politically easier to eliminate, even as critics argued that ending it sent the wrong message to potential immigrants.
Political Motivations: Campaign Promises and Coalition Compromises
The repeal fulfilled a central campaign promise by Chancellor Friedrich Merz during Germany’s February 2025 election. Euro Weekly News noted that Merz had pledged to tighten immigration policy after years of public frustration with migration management.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the decision forcefully. “A German passport must be available as recognition for successful integration and not as an incentive for illegal migration,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
Dobrindt characterized the previous government’s approach as “fundamentally wrong,” arguing it had unsettled the country without meaningfully helping with skilled worker immigration.
The CDU had initially promised to roll back all of Scholz’s citizenship reforms, but coalition negotiations with the SPD resulted in a compromise. As IamExpat reported, the coalition agreement preserved dual citizenship rights and the five-year residency pathway, while sacrificing only the three-year fast-track option.
Fierce Opposition and Concerns About Talent Attraction
The decision drew sharp criticism from opposition parties and immigration advocates who warned about sending negative signals to skilled workers.
Green Party chairman Felix Banaszak told Web.de that the reversal represents “the wrong signal at a time when we need all our strength — regardless of whether someone has been living here for three years or three generations.” Green MP Filiz Polat echoed these concerns, telling The Local, “Germany is in competition for the best minds in the world. If talented people choose to build their lives here, we should do everything we can to keep them.”
Left Party MP Ferat Kocak went further, accusing the government of making “AfD’s hatred socially acceptable” through its migration policy, according to ARD.
Diakonie Deutschland, a major social welfare organization, warned of negative labor market consequences. “Germany needs skilled workers — but anyone who sees that integration is being slowed down rather than rewarded here will look for another country,” said Federal Executive Board member Elke Ronneberger, as reported by The Local.
What the Bundesrat Said
Not all levels of government supported the repeal. According to IamExpat’s reporting, a June 2025 Bundesrat memo stated that the upper house “regretted that scrapping citizenship eligibility by three years would remove an important instrument creating incentives for integration and recruiting skilled workers.”
The Bundesrat recommended that the Bundestag instead focus on better promoting integration through increased funding for German language courses and integration programs. However, as an objection law, the measure did not require Bundesrat approval to take effect.
The Broader Immigration Context
The citizenship debate unfolds against a backdrop of heightened immigration tensions in Germany. Visit Ukraine noted that the issue of migration has remained particularly sensitive since 2015, when Angela Merkel’s government decided not to close borders to more than one million refugees.
As of 2025, more than 12 million foreigners live in Germany, accounting for approximately 15% of the population. Despite declining overall migration numbers in recent years, political debates on integration remain heated. DW reported that in 2024 alone, 292,000 foreigners became German citizens — a record high for the past decade.
The AfD’s electoral success has pushed the entire political spectrum rightward on immigration. After winning 24.1% of the vote in the February 2025 federal election, IamExpat reported that the conservative CDU/CSU has taken a harder line, including extending German border controls and implementing stricter asylum procedures.
What Remains in Place
While Germany ends fast track citizenship, significant elements of the 2024 citizenship reform survive, including the following.
Five-Year Residency Pathway
The standard naturalization process still requires only five years of legal residence, down from the previous eight-year requirement. According to Envoy Global, applicants must:
- Demonstrate B1-level German language proficiency.
- Show financial independence.
- Pass a citizenship test on German history and law.
- Maintain a clean criminal record.
Dual Citizenship
Perhaps the most significant reform remains intact. Germany now allows dual citizenship for non-EU nationals, eliminating the previous requirement that most immigrants renounce their original nationality. Travelobiz noted that this represents a fundamental shift in German nationality law.
No Citizenship Revocation for Dual Nationals
The coalition agreement explicitly rejected CDU/CSU proposals to strip dual nationals of citizenship for extremist affiliations. Human Rights Watch had warned that such measures would endanger human rights. Instead, the government will pursue stricter deportation measures for non-citizens who threaten constitutional values.
Implementation Timeline and Pending Applications
The law will take effect the day after its publication in the Federal Law Gazette, which could occur anywhere from several days to several weeks after the October 8 vote, according to The Local.
A significant question remains regarding pending applications. Envoy Global noted that Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior may need to clarify how authorities will treat applications submitted under the old rules. Some experts suggest that applications filed before the changes took effect might be processed under the previous fast-track provisions, but no definitive guidance has been issued.
International Reactions and Comparisons
Germany’s reversal stands in contrast to many other European nations actively competing for skilled immigrants. Bloomberg observed that the move reflects rapidly shifting attitudes toward migration across Europe’s labor-hungry economies.
Gökay Sofuoglu, president of the Turkish Association in Germany, told RND that while the practical impact may be limited given the low uptake, the decision was nonetheless regrettable. “It doesn’t affect many people, and those affected can just wait another two years to apply,” Sofuoglu said. However, he criticized Dobrindt’s overall immigration policies as “too much driven by the AfD.”
What This Means for Prospective Citizens
As Germany ends fast track citizenship, foreign residents hoping to become German citizens have a clear, but longer, path forward. VisaVerge summarized the current requirements as follows:
- Residency: Five consecutive years of legal residence in Germany.
- Language: B1-level German proficiency (intermediate conversational ability).
- Financial: Proof of financial self-sufficiency.
- Integration: Pass the expanded citizenship test covering democracy, gender equality, and anti-discrimination values.
- Character: Clean criminal record and commitment to constitutional democratic order.
The elimination of the fast-track option means that even exceptionally well-integrated residents with C1-level German and extensive civic involvement must now wait the full five years. However, the ability to retain original citizenship represents a significant benefit that would have been unthinkable just two years ago.
Looking Forward
Germany’s citizenship policy continues to evolve at the intersection of demographic necessity and political pressure. With an aging population and persistent labor shortages across key industries, the country needs immigration. Yet public anxiety about integration, cultural change, and social cohesion has created political space for stricter policies.
Canadian Affairs noted that the repeal highlights the “souring public mood towards immigration” despite the country’s economic need for foreign workers. The SPD’s willingness to compromise on fast-track citizenship, despite defending it as rarely used, suggests the political calculus has shifted significantly.
As The European Conservative observed, the measure reflects either a firmer stance on immigration or “panic at the rise of Alternative für Deutschland in recent polls” — or perhaps both.
For prospective German citizens, the message is clear: integration matters, but so does time. Germany remains open to naturalization, but on terms that reflect its current political realities rather than the more expansive vision of 2024.
Written by Daniel Atz, Citizenship.EU Founder.
For more information on European citizenship pathways and immigration policy updates, visit Citizenship.eu.
Sources: ARD, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, The Local Germany, InfoMigrants, Euro Weekly News, IamExpat, Envoy Global, Bloomberg, VisaVerge, Travelobiz