Migrants in Germany must gain citizenship “better” and “faster” in order to make Germany a “modern immigration country,” said German Federal Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration Reem Alabali-Radovan, which she argues means dramatically reforming the country’s nationality law.
“We are starting a new beginning in integration policy in solidarity with the federal, state, and local governments. We want to be a modern immigration country. It also means that we finally offer a way out of the intolerable chains of ‘toleration’ for those who have been living here in Germany for more than five years,” said the politician on Tuesday at the spring meeting of the integration officers of the federal and state governments in Berlin, according to a reportfrom the Deutschland Funk radio news service.
The minister was referring to “tolerated” migrants in the country who are allowed to stay in the country but have not had their asylum approved. If the law passes, 100,000 migrants would receive an expedited permanent residence visa after spending five years in the country instead of the customary eight years, which in turn allow them to obtain citizenship far more quickly.
“We must not continue to force them to sit around, but must give them a fair perspective,” the social democrat continued.
Germany’s left-wing government, made up of the Green party, the Social Democrats (SPD), and the economic liberals of the Free Democratic Party have long made clear their desire to ramp up mass immigration and rewrite the country’s laws to do accomplish this goal.
“We must make it possible for people to have more than one nationality,” the minister added.
The federal government will present a draft law this year.
The spring meeting of the integration officers takes place every year. This time the focus was on accepting Ukrainians and Afghans as well as the so-called anti-racism work.
At the beginning of the year, Alabali-Radovan appealed to the general public by saying, “We must all be anti-racists!”