Germany has ended a fast-track programme that let highly qualified foreigners apply for citizenship after three years of residence instead of the standard five.

The Bundestag, the German parliament, voted down the measure on Wednesday, according to Germany’s ARD public broadcaster.

The programme had only been in place since 2024 and was used by just a few hundred applicants, but it was politically unpopular despite Germany’s declining population.

The vote on Tuesday made good on an election promise from Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this year that his centre-right Christian Democratic Union would repeal the fast-track programme.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the measure needed to go because it had devalued German citizenship.

“The German passport must be available as r

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