Germany's overhauled citizenship rules, in force since 27 June 2024, anchor the latest bulletin item from the European Commission's Migration and Home Affairs directorate. The same item also flags new research on migrant students and refugee integration in the country.

The DG HOME portal this week published a piece headlined "Changes to citizenship requirements and research on migrant students and refugee integration in Germany." The bulletin tracks member-state policy shifts for a Brussels and EU-wide audience.

What the German reform changes

Germany's revised Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz) took effect on 27 June 2024. The reform resets the standard naturalisation period from eight years to five years.

A faster three-year track applies to applicants who demonstrate exceptional integration. The law defines this as outstanding academic or vocational achievement paired with strong German language skills and civic engagement.

The reform also ended the general prohibition on dual citizenship. Applicants no longer must give up a previous passport to take German nationality. This is a structural change for the roughly one-third of naturalisation candidates who held only a non-EU passport and were previously required to renounce it.

Children born in Germany to non-German parents now acquire German citizenship at birth if at least one parent has lived in Germany legally for five years and holds a permanent residence title. Previously, such children had to apply between ages 16 and 23.

What applicants need to qualify

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) processes naturalisation applications. Core requirements include:

• Legal residence of five years, or three years under the exceptional track
• A B1 certificate in spoken and written German
• A pass mark on the Einbürgerungstest, the standardised test of 33 questions
• No criminal convictions beyond minor offences
• Financial self-sufficiency, with limited exceptions for students and family carers

Time spent in Germany on a tolerated stay (Duldung) does not count toward the residence requirement, narrowing earlier expectations in policy debates.

Why the Commission is watching

The Commission tracks national citizenship rules as part of its work on EU citizenship rights, which attach to every national of a member state. The Commission's reporting function presents national decisions as comparative data points rather than passing judgment.

The German reform matters for Brussels because Berlin is the EU's most populous state. It also serves as a key test case for the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, agreed in May 2024.

What the research covers

The same DG HOME item points to two strands of German research:

• Studies on migrant students in higher education, including data on enrolment, dropout rates, and labour-market outcomes within five years of graduation
• Studies on refugee integration, with a focus on language-acquisition timelines and employment entry points

Both strands feed into the EU's wider evidence base on integration. They are used by the European Migration Network and the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA).

What to watch next

The Commission item does not set a follow-up date. BAMF is due to publish its 2025 naturalisation statistics in the second quarter of 2026. Those figures will show whether the lower residence threshold and dual-citizenship permission translate into a higher naturalisation rate. In 2023, Germany recorded around 290,000 naturalisations.

For the EU-level picture, watch for the next Eurostat migration and citizenship release, which will include 2024 data from all member states.