The German government has presented its new citizenship law this Wednesday (23.08.2023). The legislation proposed by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will make dual citizenship easier as well as naturalization for non-EU citizens.<
The new citizenship plans boil down to these changes:
-
Immigrants legally living in Germany will be allowed to apply for citizenship after five years, rather than the current eight; and if they have special achievements this can go down to only three years
-
Children born in Germany of at least one parent who has been living legally in the country for five or more years will automatically get German citizenship;
-
Immigrants above the age of 67 will be able to do an oral instead of a written German language test
-
Multiple citizenships will be allowed
People living entirely on state support will not be eligible for German citizenship. German citizenship will be denied to people who have committed antisemitic, racist, xenophobic or other defamatory offenses that are seen to be "unreconcilable with commitment to the free democratic basic order."
The new legislation will be debated in parliament and could come into effect in the fall.<
There are.
However, I am looking to the Turkish election and how many people with Turkish citienship living in European countries voted, because they benefit uniquely from the Erdogan result. They can earn regularly in Germany and then have much more spending power in Turkey while also not needing to live in the bad conditions that brings with it. So, they're not really caring for how local projects do, because they don't matter to them.
This is not a shot against Turkey, it's a shot against people being able to influence a country they're not living in and them not being subjected to negative consequences locally.
This is something that's weighing on my mind. I am technically an immigrant as well (I was born in Germany, but not with German citizenship) and I keep thinking if it would even make sense for me to be able to influence a country I haven't visited in 25 years.
That has nothing to do with citizenship though, that is Turkey not having a residence requirement to vote on top of requiring citizenship.
There are plenty of countries where you need both residence and citizenship to vote. The reason to Turkey to do it the way they do is the party in power is not incentivized to change it.
Okay, fair. I take this.
Since it doesn't happen often, respect for choosing to share that you accepted a counterargument.
What countries need residency on top of citizenship to vote?
Ireland reserves the right to vote to citizens living in Ireland.
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/voting/right-to-vote/
And Germany reserves the right to vote for expatriate citizens 'only' for 25 years after leaving the country, after which they are no longer eligible to vote.
https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/bundestagswahl/auslandsdeutsche-213246
I'm a uk citizen who isn't allowed to vote there because I never lived there