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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

Around 27,000 people in Berlin waiting on citizenship applications

There are backlogs of German citizenship applications around the country, but the capital’s situation is particularly dire – with waiting times of around three years in some places.

Published: 18 May 2023 16:54 CEST

A man holds a German passport in his hand.

A man holds a German passport in his hand. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fabian Sommer

As of the end of 2022, around 27,000 German citizenship applications were awaiting processing in Berlin, with the capital’s local bureaucrats only able to process just over 8,000 annually in the last number of years.

Berliners who apply now for German citizenship can expect to wait an average of 2.4 years before they finally receive their first German passport, data from the local authority shows.

Although applicants who have filed in 2023 are being warned their applications are being put on hold while the city-state centralizes the service into a new city immigration office rather than each district being responsible.

READ ALSO: Where in Germany are citizenship applications processed the quickest (and slowest)

The new office is expected to open in 2024 and the city government is pledging that its 200 dedicated staff will be able to process applications faster, with resources equipped to process 20,000 applications a year rather than the current 8,000.

A part of the reason for the backlog is simply the increased volume: 17,600 people in Berlin applied to become German in 2022, compared to 9,000 in 2010.

It’s also expected to get worse.

With the federal government working to pass a law this year that would allow dual citizenship and reduce the time someone has to have been in Germany from eight years to five, authorities are expecting a flood of applications once the draft law passed.

As it stands now, city authorities estimate that as many as 250,000 Berliners might already fulfill the requirements for German citizenship – legal residence for at least eight years.

Many of these people may have been residents for a long time, but simply haven’t applied to become German due to the general requirement to renounce any other non-EU citizenships.

Many are expected to apply as soon as the new law passes.

The cabinet is currently working on the draft law before it’s sent to the Bundestag.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to speed up your German citizenship application

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Germany to launch campaign informing foreigners about new citizenship law

According to a report in German daily Bild, the advertising campaign will kick off on the same date the new rules enter into force – most likely on June 27th – providing foreigners with guidance for their applications.

This was confirmed by the Interior Ministry on Thursday in response to an enquiry by The Local.

Bild refers in its report to a letter written by Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), the Federal Commissioner for Integration, to the ministers in the governing traffic-light coalition.

In it, Alabi-Radovan writes that the campaign will inform would-be applicants “about the requirements and procedures for naturalisation” in order to speed up the work of the local authorities. According to Bild, this information will be available in both German and English.

As well as pamphlets, there will also be a website where applicants can find relevant information on the new law and explanatory videos, Alabi-Radovan writes.

The government will also take to social networks like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook to answer questions from foreigners, and will feature stories from successful applicants in their advertising campaigns.

Currently, there are numerous groups on social media where foreigners can pose questions on the citizenship process and share their experiences.

However, the vast majority of these are run by unofficial sources.

READ ALSO: Where to get free immigration advice in Germany

An influx of applications

With the governing coalition planning to relax many of its rules for naturalisation on June 27th, authorities are expected a tidal wave of applications from foreigners in the country.

Along cutting ordinary residence requirements from eight years to five, a previous ban on dual nationality for non-EU citizens will be lifted, allowing applicants to keep their existing passports after naturalisation.

There will also be carve-outs designed to make it easier for members of the Turkish guest-worker generation to naturalise, for example by scrapping the need for formal language tests for this group.

Back in March, the head of Berlin’s Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA), Engelhard Mazanke, referred to the government’s upcoming advertising campaign and said he expected that as many as 80,000 people to submit an application this year when the new law comes into force.

However, this is a conservative estimate: according to the LEA, around 330,000 people in Berlin would be eligible to apply after the new law kicks in.

READ ALSO: Foreigners in Berlin furious over German citizenship delays

Though Berlin is an extreme case, residents in many other parts of the country such as Hamburg and North-Rhine Westphalia already wait more than a year for their citizenship applicants to be processed.

This has sparked concern among foreigners that the new law may exacerbate the long waiting times and hefty backlogs.

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