Germany has ended its fast-track citizenship programme, reflecting a shift in public attitudes toward migration and integration.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives had pledged during this year’s election campaign to rescind the law, which allowed people deemed “exceptionally well integrated” to gain citizenship in three years instead of the standard five.

“A German passport must come as recognition of a successful integration process and not act as an incentive for illegal immigration,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told parliament.

The rest of the citizenship law, introduced under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat-liberal-Green government, remains intact, despite prior conservative pledges to roll back reforms like dual citizenship and the reduction of the waiting period from eight years to five. The SPD, now junior partners in Merz’s coalition, defended the changes, noting the fast-track programme was rarely used.

Of the record 300,000 naturalisations in 2024, only a few hundred were via the fast track, intended to attract highly skilled individuals to Germany’s labour-short economy. Candidates had to show achievements such as excellent German language skills, voluntary service, or professional and academic success.

“Germany is in competition to get the best brains in the world, and if those people choose Germany we should do everything possible to keep them,” said Green Party lawmaker Filiz Polat.

Rising public concern over high migration levels has strained local services and bolstered support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party in some polls.

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