Around 50,000 Turkish Nationals Expected to Apply for German Citizenship Following New Law Approval

The Turkish Community in Germany has said that around 50,000 people who have Turkish roots and who still do not hold German citizenship are expected to file naturalisation applications in the next years now that the country has approved the new dual citizenship law.

On Friday, the German parliament approved a law that makes it easier for foreigners to hold dual citizenship and shortens the path to citizenship.

While the law has been welcomed, concerns have been raised on the processing of applications as the country is expected to register a high number of people applying for citizenship, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

According to the head of the Turkish Community in Germany, Gökay Sofuoglu, in the long term, all citizens of Turkish origin in Germany who still do not hold a German passport will apply for dual citizenship.

And I assume that, in the long term, all 1.5 million citizens of Turkish origin in Germany who do not yet have German citizenship will acquire dual citizenship.

At the same time, Sofuoglu said that as soon as Turkish nationals in Germany are aware of the advantages of the new law, the number of naturalisation applications will always remain high. Due to this, he said he fears that the authorities of the country will have difficulty in processing all the applications.

As Deutsche Welle explains, around 3 million people who have Turkish heritage live in Germany. Of the total, almost 1.5 million of them continue to have Turkish citizenship.

On Friday, when the new law was passed, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that with the dual citizenship law, the country wants to let everyone who has lived and worked in Germany for decades and also followed the rules that they belong to Germany.

In addition to those with Turkish heritage, others are also anticipated to file a high number of applications for citizenship. Around 14 per cent of people who live in Germany do not hold the country’s citizenship.

A similar percentage of people in the country have migrant background. This means that they have either been naturalised or have at least an immigrant parent.

While so far, Germany has granted citizenship to a record number of foreigners, the record will be broken in the next years. In line with the new law, foreign nationals who live in Germany will be eligible for citizenship provided that they have lived in the country for at least five years instead of the previous eight years.

In addition, applicants who have been exceptionally well integrated into German society will be able to gain citizenship only after three years.