Interior Senator - Naturalizations to be carried out centrally in Berlin in future
An important change to the naturalization process in Berlin: from 1 January, the State Office for Immigration (LEA) will be centrally responsible for this, instead of the districts as before.
"Our goal is to noticeably increase the naturalization rate in Berlin," Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) told the German Press Agency. "Recently, the procedures in the districts have continued to pile up and the waiting times were clearly too long. This has put many people off. Centralization will give naturalization a new significance in our city."
After taking over responsibility for the procedures, the LEA will have to deal with a considerable backlog of applications. According to the Home Office, as of the end of November, there were a good 34,000 open procedures in so-called citizenship matters, the vast majority of which involve applications for naturalization.
Not all of the posts in the LEA for this area have yet been filled. According to the Interior Administration, 120 new posts have been created for centralization, with a further 90 or so being transferred from the districts to the LEA - making a total of around 210. Around 70 of these were recently still vacant and are expected to be filled in the near future. Nevertheless, the central citizenship authority is fully guaranteed to start work on January 1, according to a spokeswoman for the Interior Administration.
In 2022, 8875 foreigners were granted German citizenship in Berlin. In 2023, 8640 people were naturalized by 30 November, according to the Interior Administration. This is around six percent more than in the same period last year.
Spranger pointed out the importance of naturalization for the people concerned. "Only with naturalization is comprehensive social participation and involvement possible, for example by participating in elections," she said. "We want to encourage the many Berliners who are eligible to apply to take this step and help shape our city on an equal footing."
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Source: www.stern.de
