The plans would make German citizenship harder to obtain by requiring applicants to give up their existing nationality, meet a higher German-language standard and demonstrate complete financial independence. The proposals have emerged after the AfD (Alternative for Germany) secured 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s September 6 state election, marking the party’s first outright victory in a German state election.
The CDU, which had governed Saxony-Anhalt continuously since 2002, received 17.2%, less than half its 2021 result. The AfD won 39 of the Landtag’s 83 seats, leaving it three seats short of an absolute majority.
What the CDU Is Considering for Naturalisation
Senior CDU figures are considering several changes to the requirements for immigrants seeking German citizenship. Among them is a return to mandatory renunciation of an applicant’s previous nationality.
The proposed package would also raise the German-language requirement. Instead of demonstrating the everyday B1 level currently associated with the standard route, applicants would have to show that they can deal with more complex subjects in German.
Financial independence would become another central requirement. Applicants would be expected to cover their living expenses entirely through their own income rather than relying partly on state benefits. The proposals would also require applicants to reject “all forms of anti-Semitism.”
The economic requirement would represent a significant departure from the standard currently applied in case law. Under that approach, covering 51% of a person’s livelihood through their own income can be sufficient for naturalisation. The CDU proposal questions whether someone whose income is still nearly half dependent on the welfare state should be regarded as economically integrated.
CDU deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group Günter Krings, who served as parliamentary state secretary in the Interior Ministry from 2013 to 2021, has argued that earlier governments made German naturalisation too quick and too easy.
He has said that naturalisation should come only after an integration process involving participation in the labour market, society and the constitutional order, while rejecting the idea that people should be able to live in a parallel society and simultaneously obtain German citizenship.
Germany Has Already Rewritten Its Citizenship Rules
For decades, Germany maintained relatively restrictive rules on multiple nationality. Until the middle of 2024, naturalisation normally required eight years of residence and the renunciation of an applicant’s previous citizenship, with the main exceptions applying to EU and Swiss nationals.
That framework changed on June 27, 2024, when the Act on the Modernization of Nationality Law, adopted under Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, entered into force.
The reform reduced the standard residence requirement from eight years to five. It also allowed naturalising applicants to retain their existing nationality rather than limiting that possibility primarily to EU and Swiss citizens.
At the same time, the legislation created a faster three-year route for applicants considered exceptionally well integrated and able to demonstrate C1-level German.
That accelerated route proved short-lived. On October 8, 2025, the Bundestag voted 450 to 134 to abolish it. The repeal took effect on October 30. The five-year residence requirement and the right to retain another nationality remained in place because the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition agreement expressly protected both provisions.
The issue has continued to attract opposition from the AfD. In March 2026, the party introduced a motion calling for the standard residence period to return to eight years and for the language requirement to rise to B2. The Bundestag rejected the motion on March 25 by 438 votes to 135.
The proposals now being discussed within the CDU would therefore move beyond the terms of its own coalition agreement and address issues that the AfD has been campaigning on for years.
Record Naturalisation Numbers Add to the Debate
Germany granted citizenship to 332,500 people in 2025, the highest annual figure since statistics began in 2000. The total was 14% above the previous record of 291,955 naturalisations in 2024 and represented the fifth consecutive annual high.
It was also the first year in which the number exceeded 300,000. The increase has been directly linked to the nationality reform that took effect in 2024.
Syrian nationals represented roughly one in five of the new German citizens, at 65,600, despite a 21% decline from the previous year. Turkish nationals accounted for 34,100 naturalisations and Russian nationals for 19,700, with both figures increasing by 51%.
Naturalisation among Americans doubled to 6,600. Restitution naturalisations involving descendants of people who had been stripped of German citizenship under the Nazi regime increased by 61%, reaching 12,000.
The average person naturalised in 2025 had lived in Germany for 12.4 years, compared with 11.8 years in 2024. The three-year accelerated route, before its abolition, accounted for less than 1% of naturalisations during its final year.
Data collected from municipal naturalisation authorities in cities that track dual nationality indicate that between 85% and 98% of newly naturalised citizens retained their previous nationality. The figures have become a central part of the argument for reconsidering the current dual-citizenship rules.
The number of people holding two nationalities is now substantial enough to be measured separately. Germany’s 2025 microcensus recorded 4.03 million residents with two citizenships, including 3.61 million German nationals. The most common second nationalities were Polish, held by 458,000 people, Turkish, held by 389,000, Russian, held by 353,000, Syrian, held by 243,000, and US citizenship, held by 103,000.
Since 2000, Germany has naturalised approximately 3.35 million people.
The Changes Could Also Affect Investment Migration
The 2024 nationality reform changed another important rule. It abolished Section 25 of the Nationality Act, under which German citizens could automatically lose their nationality if they voluntarily acquired another citizenship.
Since June 27, 2024, German nationals have therefore been able to acquire a foreign citizenship, including citizenship obtained through investment, without applying for a retention permit and without automatically losing German nationality.
Interest from German applicants in investment migration has also increased. The available private-sector data place Germany among the leading source nationalities for such enquiries, with Germany moving from 24th place in 2024 to 13th in 2026. Enquiries from German nationals rose by 16% between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, covering programs including the US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programs and several emerging jurisdictions.
There is no official dataset showing how many German citizens currently hold golden visas or citizenship obtained through investment abroad.
German nationals make up only a small share of the applicant statistics for European golden visa programs such as those in Greece and Portugal, since EU free movement already gives German citizens extensive rights to live elsewhere in the bloc. As a result, interest from Germany is concentrated more heavily on non-EU programs, where private-sector enquiry figures remain the available indicator.
The CDU proposals currently focus on immigrants seeking German citizenship rather than Germans acquiring another nationality. It remains unclear whether any future legislation would also seek to restore the former rule under which Germans could automatically lose their citizenship after voluntarily obtaining another nationality.
A return to that pre-2024 system would effectively make citizenship by investment a citizenship-for-citizenship exchange for German nationals. That issue is likely to be closely watched by German applicants and their advisers.
The proposed changes could also matter to foreign residents who use Germany’s existing business and self-employment immigration routes. Germany does not operate a conventional golden visa, but Section 21 of the Residence Act provides a route for self-employed entrepreneurs that can function as an investor pathway. Those who later seek German citizenship after five years could face stricter language and financial requirements if the CDU proposals become law.
The CDU Proposals Are Still Only at the Discussion Stage
The measures are not yet a government bill. Any legislation would require the support of the SPD, while the current CDU/CSU-SPD coalition agreement explicitly protects both dual citizenship and the five-year standard naturalisation period.
The SPD has previously moderated CDU migration initiatives, meaning that negotiations inside the coalition would be necessary before the proposals could move forward.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt previously described the abolition of the three-year naturalisation route as a way of reducing “pull factors” for irregular migration. Reopening the dual-citizenship issue would potentially require the coalition partners to revisit the agreement itself.
Two further state elections are scheduled for this month, in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, leaving citizenship policy as one of the issues likely to remain in the political background.
For now, the proposals remain an internal CDU initiative rather than a formal piece of legislation. Whether they develop into a government bill will depend on negotiations within the coalition, which have not yet started.
The developments of the past two years nevertheless show how quickly Germany’s nationality rules can change. The October 2025 repeal of the three-year route contained no transitional provision: applications already pending under that route were assessed according to the rules in force when the decision was made, rather than those applicable when the application was filed.
That precedent may become relevant for both applicants and advisers as they consider the timing of future naturalisation applications while Germany’s citizenship framework remains subject to political debate.
If you are considering relocating to Europe through these or other programmes, you can book an individual consultation. I will assess your situation, including available residence-permit options, the right to work, family requirements, budget, and legal risks before you submit an application or sign an agreement. Submit a request, and I will develop a step-by-step relocation plan tailored to your objective.
The CDU, which had governed Saxony-Anhalt continuously since 2002, received 17.2%, less than half its 2021 result. The AfD won 39 of the Landtag’s 83 seats, leaving it three seats short of an absolute majority.
What the CDU Is Considering for Naturalisation
Senior CDU figures are considering several changes to the requirements for immigrants seeking German citizenship. Among them is a return to mandatory renunciation of an applicant’s previous nationality.
The proposed package would also raise the German-language requirement. Instead of demonstrating the everyday B1 level currently associated with the standard route, applicants would have to show that they can deal with more complex subjects in German.
Financial independence would become another central requirement. Applicants would be expected to cover their living expenses entirely through their own income rather than relying partly on state benefits. The proposals would also require applicants to reject “all forms of anti-Semitism.”
The economic requirement would represent a significant departure from the standard currently applied in case law. Under that approach, covering 51% of a person’s livelihood through their own income can be sufficient for naturalisation. The CDU proposal questions whether someone whose income is still nearly half dependent on the welfare state should be regarded as economically integrated.
CDU deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group Günter Krings, who served as parliamentary state secretary in the Interior Ministry from 2013 to 2021, has argued that earlier governments made German naturalisation too quick and too easy.
He has said that naturalisation should come only after an integration process involving participation in the labour market, society and the constitutional order, while rejecting the idea that people should be able to live in a parallel society and simultaneously obtain German citizenship.
Germany Has Already Rewritten Its Citizenship Rules
For decades, Germany maintained relatively restrictive rules on multiple nationality. Until the middle of 2024, naturalisation normally required eight years of residence and the renunciation of an applicant’s previous citizenship, with the main exceptions applying to EU and Swiss nationals.
That framework changed on June 27, 2024, when the Act on the Modernization of Nationality Law, adopted under Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, entered into force.
The reform reduced the standard residence requirement from eight years to five. It also allowed naturalising applicants to retain their existing nationality rather than limiting that possibility primarily to EU and Swiss citizens.
At the same time, the legislation created a faster three-year route for applicants considered exceptionally well integrated and able to demonstrate C1-level German.
That accelerated route proved short-lived. On October 8, 2025, the Bundestag voted 450 to 134 to abolish it. The repeal took effect on October 30. The five-year residence requirement and the right to retain another nationality remained in place because the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition agreement expressly protected both provisions.
The issue has continued to attract opposition from the AfD. In March 2026, the party introduced a motion calling for the standard residence period to return to eight years and for the language requirement to rise to B2. The Bundestag rejected the motion on March 25 by 438 votes to 135.
The proposals now being discussed within the CDU would therefore move beyond the terms of its own coalition agreement and address issues that the AfD has been campaigning on for years.
Record Naturalisation Numbers Add to the Debate
Germany granted citizenship to 332,500 people in 2025, the highest annual figure since statistics began in 2000. The total was 14% above the previous record of 291,955 naturalisations in 2024 and represented the fifth consecutive annual high.
It was also the first year in which the number exceeded 300,000. The increase has been directly linked to the nationality reform that took effect in 2024.
Syrian nationals represented roughly one in five of the new German citizens, at 65,600, despite a 21% decline from the previous year. Turkish nationals accounted for 34,100 naturalisations and Russian nationals for 19,700, with both figures increasing by 51%.
Naturalisation among Americans doubled to 6,600. Restitution naturalisations involving descendants of people who had been stripped of German citizenship under the Nazi regime increased by 61%, reaching 12,000.
The average person naturalised in 2025 had lived in Germany for 12.4 years, compared with 11.8 years in 2024. The three-year accelerated route, before its abolition, accounted for less than 1% of naturalisations during its final year.
Data collected from municipal naturalisation authorities in cities that track dual nationality indicate that between 85% and 98% of newly naturalised citizens retained their previous nationality. The figures have become a central part of the argument for reconsidering the current dual-citizenship rules.
The number of people holding two nationalities is now substantial enough to be measured separately. Germany’s 2025 microcensus recorded 4.03 million residents with two citizenships, including 3.61 million German nationals. The most common second nationalities were Polish, held by 458,000 people, Turkish, held by 389,000, Russian, held by 353,000, Syrian, held by 243,000, and US citizenship, held by 103,000.
Since 2000, Germany has naturalised approximately 3.35 million people.
The Changes Could Also Affect Investment Migration
The 2024 nationality reform changed another important rule. It abolished Section 25 of the Nationality Act, under which German citizens could automatically lose their nationality if they voluntarily acquired another citizenship.
Since June 27, 2024, German nationals have therefore been able to acquire a foreign citizenship, including citizenship obtained through investment, without applying for a retention permit and without automatically losing German nationality.
Interest from German applicants in investment migration has also increased. The available private-sector data place Germany among the leading source nationalities for such enquiries, with Germany moving from 24th place in 2024 to 13th in 2026. Enquiries from German nationals rose by 16% between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, covering programs including the US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programs and several emerging jurisdictions.
There is no official dataset showing how many German citizens currently hold golden visas or citizenship obtained through investment abroad.
German nationals make up only a small share of the applicant statistics for European golden visa programs such as those in Greece and Portugal, since EU free movement already gives German citizens extensive rights to live elsewhere in the bloc. As a result, interest from Germany is concentrated more heavily on non-EU programs, where private-sector enquiry figures remain the available indicator.
The CDU proposals currently focus on immigrants seeking German citizenship rather than Germans acquiring another nationality. It remains unclear whether any future legislation would also seek to restore the former rule under which Germans could automatically lose their citizenship after voluntarily obtaining another nationality.
A return to that pre-2024 system would effectively make citizenship by investment a citizenship-for-citizenship exchange for German nationals. That issue is likely to be closely watched by German applicants and their advisers.
The proposed changes could also matter to foreign residents who use Germany’s existing business and self-employment immigration routes. Germany does not operate a conventional golden visa, but Section 21 of the Residence Act provides a route for self-employed entrepreneurs that can function as an investor pathway. Those who later seek German citizenship after five years could face stricter language and financial requirements if the CDU proposals become law.
The CDU Proposals Are Still Only at the Discussion Stage
The measures are not yet a government bill. Any legislation would require the support of the SPD, while the current CDU/CSU-SPD coalition agreement explicitly protects both dual citizenship and the five-year standard naturalisation period.
The SPD has previously moderated CDU migration initiatives, meaning that negotiations inside the coalition would be necessary before the proposals could move forward.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt previously described the abolition of the three-year naturalisation route as a way of reducing “pull factors” for irregular migration. Reopening the dual-citizenship issue would potentially require the coalition partners to revisit the agreement itself.
Two further state elections are scheduled for this month, in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, leaving citizenship policy as one of the issues likely to remain in the political background.
For now, the proposals remain an internal CDU initiative rather than a formal piece of legislation. Whether they develop into a government bill will depend on negotiations within the coalition, which have not yet started.
The developments of the past two years nevertheless show how quickly Germany’s nationality rules can change. The October 2025 repeal of the three-year route contained no transitional provision: applications already pending under that route were assessed according to the rules in force when the decision was made, rather than those applicable when the application was filed.
That precedent may become relevant for both applicants and advisers as they consider the timing of future naturalisation applications while Germany’s citizenship framework remains subject to political debate.
If you are considering relocating to Europe through these or other programmes, you can book an individual consultation. I will assess your situation, including available residence-permit options, the right to work, family requirements, budget, and legal risks before you submit an application or sign an agreement. Submit a request, and I will develop a step-by-step relocation plan tailored to your objective.