Overview

• The 2024 reform shortened residency requirements from eight to five years and allowed dual citizenship, boosting applications by 46 percent to a national record of 292,000 people.
• Berlin saw a 141 percent rise in naturalizations to 21,811, while Brandenburg recorded a 51 percent increase and Saxony logged a 41 percent jump to its highest total in 25 years.
• Highly integrated applicants rarely used the three-year "Turbo-Naturalization" route, with only 500 cases in Berlin and single digits reported in most other states.
• Processing times vary widely from a few months to as long as five years as local authorities grapple with increased demand and staffing constraints.
• The new conservative government has scheduled a Bundestag debate for June 26 to abolish the expedited three-year naturalization provision.