Are Germany's current citizenship laws at risk after far right's latest bid?

It seems that barely a week goes by without right-leaning politicians taking aim at Germany's naturalisation laws.

Since the citizenship reform came into force in 2024 – under the previous 'traffic light' government made up of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) – parties on the right and far right have called for a reversal of the rules.

Last year, the governing black-red coalition ended the fast-track path to citizenship, which had allowed "well-integrated" people with C1 level German to naturalise after three years. 

And, as The Local recently reported, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, confirmed at a recent party conference that it is pushing to raise the residency requirement back to eight years instead of five. Merz has also previously spoken out against allowing all applicants to hold multiple nationalities when naturalising. 

In March, a bid to tighten the rules even made it to a Bundestag vote in a motion led by the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). 

READ ALSO: How the CDU aims to tighten Germany's citizenship rules in 2026

What did the AfD want?

The AfD parliamentary group called for the 2024 reforms to be scrapped, arguing the law change had led to "mass naturalisations".

They referenced 2024 figures when 291,955 people were naturalised in Germany – 46 percent more than in the previous year. 

Unsurprisingly, given the party's hard-line stance on immigration, the AfD singled out those who came to Germany during the 2015 refugee crisis, many of whom are now eligible for citizenship. 

"Against the backdrop of guaranteed return options for Syrians and the strain on the housing market, healthcare and education systems, the AfD group in the German Bundestag is calling for these reforms to be reversed," said the group in a statement released earlier in March.

READ ALSO: Why is the chancellor saying Syrians in Germany face deportation?

"The minimum residence period should be restored to eight years, the language test raised to B2 level, and the ability to support oneself strictly assessed," said a statement by the AfD. It added that time spent in the country whilst seeking asylum should not count toward an applicant's period of residence, and "naturalisation should be ruled out in cases of illegal entry."

Furthermore, the parliamentary group argued for "a loyalty test" to "ensure that only those individuals who align with the principles of the constitution are naturalised."

"The aim is to achieve political integration and establish clear rules that respect the limits of public infrastructure," the AfD group said.

What happened in the vote?

On March 25th, the AfD's motion entitled "A genuine shift in migration policy requires a reformed naturalisation policy" was rejected by the Bundestag.

In a roll-call vote, 439 MPs voted against the motion, with 135 voting in favour.

During the debate ahead of the vote, the AfD's Gottfried Curio called out the CDU, saying that his party was effectively putting forward the CDU's resolution, calling for a return to an eight-year residency requirement to naturalisation as a "first step in the right direction".

However, the CDU and its sister party the CSU did not support the motion for several reasons.

While the CDU/CSU and the AfD take similar viewpoints in some areas, especially when it comes to immigration, Germany's central political parties have a firewall (Brandmauer ) against collaboration with the AfD.

In early 2025, Chancellor Merz came heavily under fire for allowing the AfD to back a CDU motion aimed at restricting immigration. The Union is also currently in a coalition with the SPD who brought forth the liberalisation of the naturalisation act as part of their broader efforts to attract skilled workers to Germany. The centre-right and centre-left coalition partners are trying their best to present a united front, despite their constant bickering. 

Speaking at the debate, Siegfried Walch, of the CSU, said the compromise already reached within the coalition to scrap the fast-track citizenship route, was "exactly in line with our conservative core values".

The CDU/CSU wanted "neither exclusion nor the devaluation of valuable German citizenship", Walch said, underlining the balance that the Union is trying to strike. 

Yet the mixed messages are clearly visible to see. The CDU's recent resolution states that the five-year residency requirement for naturalisation applicants is too short. 

The Local approached the CDU for further clarification, but at time of publication had not yet received a reply.

READ ALSO: German cities see soaring number of naturalisations as CDU pushes for tighter rules

So are naturalisation laws at risk?

As you might imagine, the parties who brought in the 2024 citizenship reform – including the Social Democrats and Greens – are firmly standing by the current naturalisation laws. 

During the debate, Hakan Demir, of the SPD, described the five-year waiting period for citizenship as a "good and widely supported compromise".

The AfD wants to "deny recognised refugees the opportunity to become part of our society", he said, yet Germany needs "people who get involved here and pitch in".

Filiz Polat, Parliamentary Secretary and migration expert for the Green party parliamentary group in the Bundestag told The Local that the previous coalition government "laid the foundations for a modern migration society... by reducing the naturalisation period to five years and allowing for multiple citizenship."

Polat said the current legislation strengthens integration and democracy in Germany "in the long term".

"The German labour market benefits, as skilled workers choose to stay in Germany by acquiring German citizenship," she said. 

"Our citizenship law is an expression of a modern immigration nation, which is why it is repeatedly called into question by the AfD.

"Extending the naturalisation waiting periods once again would be disastrous for social cohesion in our country. I assume that the government is aware of this responsibility and has therefore not included any further reforms in its coalition agreement."

Germany's current citizenship laws are also supported by The Left Party (Die Linke), who have even campaigned to further relax naturalisation rules.  

Under the current federal government, it appears that the naturalisation laws won't likely be reversed, even if the conservative Union parties continue to say they want to do so -- and appear largely aligned with the AfD in this regard. 

What the future holds for Germany's Naturalisation Act remains to be seen, and ultimately depends on how German citizens vote and how governing coalitions respond.

READ ALSO: 'Indispensable' - Experts explain how to speed up your German citizenship application