Young, educated and dynamic, José Leonardo Cabrera Barroso is just the immigrant the German government needs.
Originally from Venezuela, he settled in Germany, studied the language and obtained a German medical degree. At 34, he specializes in trauma surgery, working at a hospital in the northern port city of Hamburg. It took him the full six years — and thanks to his expertise, he was allowed to apply for citizenship eight years earlier than is required for most others.
“For me, this day is mandatory,” he said at a champagne reception in Hamburg following the naturalization ceremony in February. “After all the effort I’ve made to get here, I finally feel like I can celebrate.”
But if his path to becoming a German citizen hasn’t been easy, the effort to simplify that process for others who want to do the same won’t be easy either.
After months of political wrangling, the government rolled out a plan this month to make it easier and faster for employed immigrants to become citizens, shortening the time it takes for those with a job. special skills like Dr. Cabrera Barroso, down to three years.
Advocates argue that these changes are needed to compensate for an aging population and a shortage of skilled and unskilled labor. With the majority that Prime Minister Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition government holds in Parliament, the new law is expected to be passed this summer.
But before that, even within the government – and certainly among its conservative opponents – the proposals sparked a fierce debate over a fundamental question: Is Germany a country? of immigrants?
On the ground, the answer is obvious. Germany is more populous than ever — an additional 1.1 million people live in the country, now 84.3 million at the end of 2022 — thanks to migration.
One in four Germans has at least one of their grandparents born abroad. More than 18 percent of people living in Germany were not born there.
In Frankfurt and a few other large cities, residents with a history of emigration make up the majority. People with non-German-sounding names run cities, universities, and hospitals. The German couple who invented the Pfizer Covid vaccine originated in Türkiye. Cem Ozdemir, a German-born Green Party politician to parents from Türkiye, is one of the current government’s most famous miners. Two of the three ruling parties are run by men born in Iran.
Many of those changes have only accelerated since reunification 33 years ago, but many Germans still don’t realize the diversification of their country.
“The opposition does not want to accept or acknowledge that we are a nation of immigrants; Bijan Djir-Sarai, who came to Germany from Iran at the age of 11 and is now general secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party, part of the ruling coalition, said they basically wanted to escape reality.
Changes to citizenship law are part of a series of proposals that will also make it easier for skilled workers to settle in Germany and well-integrated immigrants to stay.
In addition to reducing the amount of time an immigrant has to live in the country to apply, the plan will allow people to keep their original nationality and make language requirements less difficult for applicants. older immigrants.
These proposals have had the most far-reaching influence since 1999, when for the first time in modern German history, people not born to German parents could obtain German citizenship under the most favorable conditions. determined.
Before that, it was almost impossible to become German without proof of German origin, a situation that was especially difficult for the nearly one million Turkish nationals who began coming to Germany in the 1960s to help rebuild the country’s economy. economy as “guest workers” and their descendants.
Since the government announced its plan in November, the conservative opposition has staunchly opposed the relaxation of citizenship requirements, criticizing them for giving German citizens rights too much. easy for those who are not integrated enough.
Those arguments have resonated with some Germans at a time when migration remains a fixture of the anti-immigrant Germany Alternative, which has rallied in the polls. probe, pulling the mainstream opposition Christian Democrats further with it.
Alexander Dobrindt, parliamentary leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union, told the mass-market tabloid Bild: “Civil rights do not promote integration, but have the opposite effect and will have an impact. chain to illegal migration.
Not everyone who has gone through the arduous, longer process agrees with the reduced requirements.
“I think you have to make sure it’s not given away too easily,” said Mohammed Basheer, 34, who arrived in Germany from Syria eight years ago and is one of about 200 immigrants who received citizenship this year in Ornately decorated Renaissance. Hamburg City Hall. “I had to fight hard for it.”
During months of negotiations, the smallest and most conservative parties in the governing coalition have fought for changes that will ensure applicants are self-sufficient and — with a few exceptions — do not rely on social security payments.
“If we want society to accept immigration reform, we also have to talk about things like controls, regulation and if necessary repatriation,” said Djir-Sarai, acknowledging his concerns. oppose side. “It’s simply part of it.”
However, surveys show that more than two-thirds of Germans believe changes to make immigration easier are needed to alleviate a widespread shortage of skilled workers, according to a poll. recently. Industry; employers, such as the German association of small and medium enterprises; and economists welcome these changes, seeing them as a way to attract skilled workers.
Petra Bendel, who studies migration and integration at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nurnberg, says that in addition to attracting new workers, these changes are also important to integrate already-existing immigrants. live in Germany.
“The problem is that we exclude a very large number of people who have long been our members, but do not yet have full citizenship and are therefore also excluded from full political participation.” she said.
Despite being the fifth-largest country by naturalization in the European Union in 2020, the most recent year for such numbers, Germany ranks relatively poorly in naturalizing permanent residents: 19th out of 27 EU member statesone level behind Hungary.
“Other European countries,” notes Professor Bendel, “naturalization is much faster, mainly after 5 years and not after 8 years, and that is why we ended up in bottom third place.”
In the coming weeks, the bill will be submitted to 16 German states for comments before returning to the cabinet for approval. The government hopes to bring it to Parliament for discussion and vote before lawmakers leave for summer in early July, although the vote could be delayed until they meet again in September.
For some, like Bonnie Cheng, 28, a portrait photographer in Berlin, the changes are welcome, if too late. She had to give up her Hong Kong citizenship when she became German last year.
Ms. Cheng is happy that others will not face the same choice. If she ever had doubts about being German, she said, that’s when she realized she would be the only one in her family of a different nationality.
“If you want people to feel included, you shouldn’t tear their identity,” she said.
