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By Laura Fleischmann
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The number of naturalisations in Germany has risen to a new record high, with 332,500 people acquiring German citizenship in 2025.
Compared with the previous year, that marks an increase of 14 percent, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
The largest group, at 20 percent, were Syrians. However, almost 20,000 fewer Syrians naturalised than in 2024. In second place came Turks, with 10 percent of all naturalisations, followed by Russians with 6 percent.
Naturalisation among Bosnian (+126 percent to 8,800), US (+100 percent to 6,600) and Albanian (+97 percent to 6,100) citizens has grown particularly strongly.
Almost all newly naturalised citizens are opting for dual citizenship, according to the Integration Media Service. Since a reform of citizenship law by the traffic light coalition (SPD, Greens, FDP), which came into force at the end of June 2024, so-called dual citizenship has been the legal standard in naturalisations and applicants no longer have to give up their original nationality. The amendment has also reduced the waiting period for naturalisation from eight to five years.
In response to the naturalisation figures, AfD party leader Alice Weidel took to social media, writing: “The new citizens are making use of the benefits of being German without committing themselves to Germany. For the AfD one thing is clear: mass naturalisations must be stopped and naturalisations that have already taken place must be put to the test.”
Around 1.3 million Ukrainian nationals live in Germany, and from spring 2027 onwards, they could overtake Syrians at the top of the naturalisations list.
“The citizenship authorities are already working to full capacity as it is,” Die Welt quoted from a document seen by the paper.
According to the report, the document comes from the legal affairs committee of the German Association of Cities. Additional demand from Ukrainians could lead to a “permanent overload situation”, it says.
Up to now, Ukrainians in Europe have enjoyed temporary protection, granted by the EU. Under current plans this protection will expire in March 2027. This week, EU interior ministers want to discuss possible parameters for an extension.
According to the Handelsblatt business daily, the German Press Agency (dpa) has received two possible versions of an extension: one would extend protected status across the board. The second version would exclude Ukrainian men between 23 and 60 years of age from temporary protection. In all likelihood, however, this would apply only to men newly entering the EU.
If the EU member states decide against an extension, naturalisation could become an attractive option for Ukrainians. Many Ukrainian refugees who have been living in Germany since the start of the war will meet the required length of stay in spring 2027. But there appears to be disagreement as to whether Ukrainians can naturalise at all.
The district of Uelzen and the city of Flensburg told Die Welt that a residence permit does not confer an entitlement to naturalisation. On the other hand, towns such as Leer in Lower Saxony are already gearing up for an expected flood of applications.
Union politicians such as Alexander Throm have repeatedly called for tougher naturalisation laws in the past. Speaking to Die Welt, Throm demanded that the naturalisation period be extended back to eight years and dual citizenship be abolished again.
Sebastian Fiedler, the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson on domestic policy, told Die Welt: “We are working excellently with the Union on the basis of the coalition agreement. I am pleased that, as part of this, we have also maintained dual citizenship in law as a successful model.”
Based on the rules, “only well-integrated people” can become German. “These figures are good for all of us: good for the labour market, the welfare systems and for our social cohesion,” Fiedler said of the naturalisation figures.
The CDU’s demands for tougher naturalisation laws did not make it into the black-red coalition agreement. On the subject of naturalisation, it contains only the following: “We are abolishing ‘turbo naturalisation’ after three years. Beyond that, we are upholding the reform of citizenship law.”
Under turbo naturalisation, particularly well-integrated people could obtain a German passport even more quickly. It was abolished at the end of October 2025 at the insistence of the CDU and SPD.
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