Germany scraps three-year fast-track citizenship for highly skilled immigrants

Germany’s parliament has rescinded a fast-track citizenship programme, a move reflecting shifting attitudes on migration in Europe’s economic powerhouse. The legislation, originally allowing people deemed “exceptionally well integrated” to gain citizenship in three years instead of five, was a key target of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party during this year’s election campaign. Advertisement

“A German passport must come as recognition of a successful integration process and not act as an incentive for illegal immigration,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told parliament.

The rest of Germany’s new citizenship law, introduced under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat-liberal-Green government, remains intact, despite earlier conservative promises to reverse in