BERLIN

The German parliament on Wednesday abolished the "fast-track citizenship" option for immigrants, approving controversial legislation pushed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative alliance.

The new legislation establishes a standard five-year residency requirement for all citizenship applicants, eliminating the previous three-year pathway for immigrants demonstrating exceptional integration.

Lawmakers from Chancellor Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), their coalition partner Social Democrats, and the main opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) voted in favor of the new legislation, which establishes more stringent naturalization requirements.

"Naturalization must come at the end of the integration process, not at the beginning," Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said during the final debate in the Bundestag. "The German passport must be available as recognition for successful integration and not as an incentive for illegal migration,” he said.

The Social Democrats (SPD), who had introduced the fast-track citizenship option during their previous administration, accepted the recent changes as part of the compromise needed to form a coalition government with Chancellor Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance earlier this year.

SPD deputy parliamentary group leader Sonja Eichwede defended the compromise, noting the relatively low number of fast-track citizenship cases. She emphasized that during the coalition negotiations in April, they had managed to convince Christian Democrats to maintain the “dual citizenship” option for immigrants. She stated this was more important than preserving the accelerated pathway.

Opposition lawmakers from The Left and the Greens strongly criticized Chancellor Merz's coalition government, arguing that the populist changes in integration policy damage integration efforts and surrender to the far-right AfD's anti-immigrant propaganda.