The federal government [has agreed](https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/DE/2023/05/staatsangehoerigkeitsrecht.html) on a draft for the reform of the citizenship law. Here are all relevant reforms from the [full text](https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/gesetzgebungsverfahren/DE/Downloads/referentenentwuerfe/VII5/gesetz-zur-modernisierung-des-staatsangehoerigkeitsrechts.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2):
**Dual citizenship:** Immigrants who get German citizenship can keep their previous citizenship(s) and Germans who get a foreign citizenship no longer lose German citizenship.
**Faster citizenship:** You can get German citizenship after 5 years with German level B1 or after 3 years if you speak German level C1 and “demonstrate special integration achievements, especially good academic, professional or vocational achievements or civic commitment”. Time to join a Verein where you do something good for the community! Or cozy up to your boss so they write you a good interim report.
**For children of foreign parents:** Children who are born to two foreign parents in Germany get German citizenship at birth if at least one parent has been in Germany for 5 years and has permanent residency.
**For criminal racists:** Naturalization is currently not possible for people who were convicted of a crime where they got a fine of more than 90x their daily income (Tagessätze), or a suspended prison sentence (Bewährung) of more than 90 days, or a prison sentence. The new law now also prohibits the naturalization of people who were convicted of a specified crime (§ 86, 86a, 102, 104, 111, 125, 126, 126a, 130, 140, 166, 185 bis 189, 192a, 223, 224, 240, 241, 303, 304, 306-306c [StGB](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/)) but got a lower sentence if the public prosecutor’s office recognized that the crime was committed “with anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic or other inhumane motives”.
**For the working poor and “Gastarbeiter” on welfare:** Getting citizenship until now was usually not possible for those who live on welfare. The new law adds some exceptions: Welfare recipients can get German citizenship if they work full-time, or if they have a child and the partner works full-time, or if they came as “Gastarbeiter” from Turkey to West Germany until 1974, or as “Vertragsarbeitnehmer” to East Germany until 1990.
**For adoptees:** A German child that is adopted by foreign parents and gets the citizenship of the adopted parents no longer loses German citizenship.
**For the same price:** Naturalization used to cost 500 DM in the 1990s, the price was converted fairly with the currency reform to 255 euro and has now remained unchanged for decades.
**Timeline**
Ministers of all three parties who make up the coalition have agreed on the draft text of the law. The bill will now be introduced to parliament where it will first be debated in committee, there are usually only a few minor technical changes to the text. Then the bill will be voted on by the full house. The coalition has 37 more seats than required to pass the bill. Coalition discipline is good so far so the bill should pass with no problems. The bill does not affect the German states (Länder) and therefore does not need approval from the upper chamber (Bundesrat). So it could become law in maybe six months or maybe in one year, we will see.