Make becoming a German citizen easier, integration ministers urge

Children born to foreigners living in Germany should be granted faster access by law to German citizenship, integration ministers from Germany’s 16 states have urged in a majority appeal

Meeting in the harbor city-state of Bremen Friday, ministers called on the federal government to reform Germany’s Nationality Act (StAG) by reducing a resident child’s waiting time for citizenship from the current eight years to six years.

A reduction to four years should apply to foreign families who show special integrative aptitude, urged ministers, who form Germany’s Integration Ministers’ Conference (IntMK). The group, whose rotating chair is currently held by Bremen’s Social and Integration Senator Anja Stahmann of Germany’s opposition Greens, was initiated under Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2007 to coordinate regional and federal policies, but often exposes major differences among state approaches.

Ease rules, urges Bremen minister Anja Stahmann

Stahmann said ministers meeting Friday also urged for relaxing Germany’s legislated aversion to multiple nationalities and that German language acquisition at the mid-range B1 level be sufficient to test successfully for citizenship.

The IntMK also received a study showing trust migrants hold toward German authorities and urged the federal government to fully use EU-negotiated quotas to bring “subsidiary” family members and reunite them with refugees already in Germany. Of the 12,000 such entries possible last year only 5,300 visas were issued, it said.

Child refugees arriving at Hanover’s airport from Greece. 8,6 or 4 years to citizenship?

Last week, a flight carrying 103 refugees landed in Hanover, raising to 2,765 the number of arrivals in Germany since April 2020, meeting the target of 2,750 that Germany had declared itself willing to accept.

‘Secondary migration’ along ‘Balkan route’ still prevalent

Stahmann had condemned what she called the “repeated refusal” of Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to accept more refugees from crowded camps in Greece. 

Seehofer, former premier of Bavaria, where Germany’s 2015 refugee crisis unfolded, last week prolonged federal controls along the German-Austrian border, citing a “secondary migration of refugees” still prevalent through EU member nations.

The situation on the Aegean maritime border between Turkey and Greece, was “still highly fragile,” said Seehofer, also warning of “illegal migration potential on the Balkan route.”

Hardline German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer questions “open border” practices

In January alone, he said, authorities had detected 24 cases of people-smugglers using risky container trucks and vans carrying 103 occupants along the German border with Austria.

Maritime Bremen, which prides itself on being “world open,” was where in 2018 one of Seehofer’s immigration directors — attached to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) — was accused of falsifying asylum approvals.

Last week, Bremen’s regional court dropped their prosecution  of the case on the condition that the former BAMF director, now aged 59, pay a fine of €10,000 ($12,124). 

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  A stroke of luck

  “The Town Musicians of Bremen,” based on a folktale recorded by the Brothers Grimm, made the Hanseatic city famous. The story features four unloved animals leaving their homes to seek fortune in Bremen. Local legend says touching the front legs of the donkey on the statue brings good fortune. The 1953 bronze statue on the market square depicts story’s characters: a donkey, dog, cat and rooster.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  The city’s guardian

  The statue of Roland has stood on the market square in Bremen since 1404. It depicts a real knight who was a paladin of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. According to legend, Bremen will remain free and independent as long as Roland stands watch over the city. Along with the historic town hall, the Roland statue is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  The winning formula

  The former Schütting guild house on the market square has served Bremen’s merchants and traders for nearly 600 years. In 1899, the Low German inscription “buten un binnen wagen un winnen” – or “outside and in, risk it and win” – was added as a motto to the building’s portal, meaning that merchants from Bremen are called upon to risk their assets at home and abroad in order to gain fortune.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  Under full sails

  The Weser River is Bremen’s connection to the sea. It leads to Bremerhaven some 60 kilometers down river. Onboard their Hanseatic cog, square rig sailing boats, traders brought in raw materials from northern Europe and also sold fabrics and ironware. In the Middle Ages, 70 large cities, including Bremen, and more than 100 smaller towns formed the Hanseatic League.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  A key factor

  Architectural artists in the 17th century created countless figures and reliefs in sandstone to decorate the Weser Renaissance-style city hall’s facade. It’s here that you find the Bremen Key, which was added as symbol to the city’s coat of arms. When neighboring Hamburg claimed to be the gate to the world, the people of Bremen tend to reply: that may be, but we still hold the key to it.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  Women finally at the table

  Every year 100 ships’ captains, 100 merchants and 100 guests gather at Bremen Town Hall for the traditional “Schaffermahlzeit” banquet. It was introduced in 1545 as a fraternity dinner to bring together the city’s captains, ship owners and merchants. On February 13, 2015, for the first time ever, women were invited as equals to the table, thereby ending Germany’s oldest male domain.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  All safe at sea

  Some 150 years ago, a shipwreck moved a teacher from Bremen so much that he founded the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service DGzRS. Thanks to generous donations, the life savers are on call 24-hours a day and can launch a rapid deployment in any weather with their 60 lifeboats in the North and Baltic seas.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  Anchors aweigh!

  Bremerhaven’s commercial seaport at the mouth of the Weser River on the North Sea is one of the largest container ports in Europe. It annually handles some 50 million tons of cargo. Continuing its tradition as a port for passenger ships, Bremerhaven has recently created the Columbus Cruise Center. This is also home to the “Atlantic Hotel Sail City,” which resembles a giant sail in the skyline.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  Off to new shores

  The German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven breathes tales of farewell and departure. This is where more than 7 million people boarded ships bound for the new world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Comprehensive data banks help North and South Americans in particular trace their ancestors’ histories.

• 10 reasons to love Bremen

  Climate adventure

  Bremerhaven’s harbor district has a glittery highlight: The Klimahaus. The building in the form of a stylized ship is encased by more than 4,000 panes of glass. Visitors go on a trip around the world following the 8th degree of longitude, past glaciers, through desert sands and tropical rainforests to the Antarctic. The implications climate change has for nature and mankind are evident.

  Author: Ille Simon

ipj/sms (KNA; AFP, dpa, epd)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/make-becoming-a-german-citizen-easier-integration-ministers-urge/a-57393550?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom