The parties of the governing coalition are preparing amendments to the citizenship law that would bar anyone who commits fraud in citizenship procedures from obtaining citizenship for a period of ten years. The amendments would also prohibit anyone who cheats on a language exam or submits false documents from applying for naturalization for ten years.
According to Alexander Throm, spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, the Union parliamentary group and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group are submitting a draft amendment to the citizenship law to the Bundestag’s Interior Committee, ahead of its adoption in the Bundestag in the coming days.
The draft, agreed upon by the coalition parties, aims to address fraud and cheating in the naturalization process. Accordingly, it adds the following provisions: “The naturalization application shall be rejected during the waiting period if found invalid,” and “The waiting period shall be set at a total of ten years.”
According to Throm, anyone who engages in fraud will be denied citizenship. He said: “Anyone who resorts to fraud during the naturalization process is not entitled to a German passport. Therefore, based on the proposal of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union, a ten-year ban on naturalization will be imposed.” Throm also noted that there are hundreds of fraud cases involving organized criminal gangs.
A naturalization ban will be imposed on individuals found to have fraudulently obtained citizenship, and they will be barred from applying for citizenship again for ten years.
Throm also revealed that a draft law is being prepared that would grant the federal government the authority to designate safe countries of origin for deportation without requiring approval from the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The proposal also includes repealing a previous government law that required authorities to provide legal representation to individuals detained pending deportation.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior revealed that forged language certificates had been submitted in citizenship applications. In response, the Federal Police conducted extensive raids on language schools across several states and inspected a large number of businesses in multiple cities, resulting in the arrest of fifteen individuals suspected of submitting falsified language certificates.
