Citizenship applications in Germany have been piling up all over the country, with the situation being particularly dire in bigger cities.
Data has shown that in some areas of the country, applicants are waiting for up to three years to receive a decision on their citizenship applications. For this reason, the authorities have been urged to take measures as soon as possible to address the backlogs, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
While the authorities have not given any specific information on the matter, the citizenship applications backlog can be attributed to various factors, especially to a lack of resources to process them efficiently. Consequently, applicants have been left in limbo, eagerly awaiting a decision on their citizenship status.
Even though many German cities are currently dealing with a high number of citizenship applications that need to be processed, Berlin has reached a critical point.
According to Global Village Space, currently, around 27,000 Berliners are waiting for a response to their citizenship applications.
Taking into account the long waiting times for their citizenship applications to be processed, some applicants have already decided to take legal action. The administrative court of Berlin has said that it has received a record-high number of appeals in recent years from those who have applied for citizenship. It is believed that the number of appeals received this year is high too.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the long waiting times have also caused frustration among those who have been living in Germany as well as contributing to society for years now. Many have said that they are being treated unfairly and have also stressed that their applications are not getting the attention they deserve.
As reported, the problem has already been acknowledged by the German government, which has said that it has taken measures to address the issue.
Back in 2019, the German government announced plans to increase the number of staff to process citizenship applications. The same said that it would invest in new technology to streamline the process. Nonetheless, since the backlog continues to grow, it means that the progress is slow.
Data show that the situation has been particularly challenging for those who are applying for German citizenship due to their family ties. In such cases, the applicants are required to provide a large number of documents. Still, the demand to obtain German citizenship remains high.
According to the statistical office of Germany, Destatis, a total of 131,595 people gained German citizenship by naturalisation. This is the highest number in recent years since 2003 when 150,731 people became German citizens.
On the other hand, the highest number of naturalisations was in 2000, 2001, and 2002, with 186,672, 178,098, and 154,547 naturalisations, respectively.
>> German Govt Publishes Draft Law for New Citizenship Rules