Hello and welcome to the details of New Germany, new rules: Chancellor Merz halts migrant family reunions, toughens citizenship and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was elected into office in February 2025 on the promise of tighter immigration rules and has since imposed border controls in May. — AFP pic
BERLIN, May 29 — The German government on Wednesday agreed plans to restrict family reunions for some migrants and toughen rules for obtaining citizenship.
A clampdown on immigration was a key promise of new conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the campaign for February’s general election, and his government swiftly moved to impose controls at Germany’s borders after taking office earlier this month.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters Wednesday that the new measures marked a “decisive day” for the reduction of irregular migration.
The suspension of family reunions will last for two years and affect people who have “subsidiary protection”, not full refugee status.
Dobrindt said the move would help “take pressure off” local councils tasked with providing for and integrating new arrivals.
He recalled that a similar measure was put in place between 2016 and 2018 in the wake of the European migration crisis.
Dobrindt also announced the scrapping of a reform implemented by the previous centre-left government of chancellor Olaf Scholz under which some immigrants could apply for citizenship after three years of residency if they could prove they had had “particular success in integration”.
The minimum residency requirement will now be brought back up to five years.
According to Dobrindt, the new measures will help reduce “pull factors” for migrants who may otherwise attempt to enter Germany via irregular means.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has long railed against immigration, with leading figures in the party demanding mass deportations of foreigners.
Merz has been accused by critics of pandering to the AfD with his rhetoric but insists that taking action on migration is the only way to counter the far-right’s rising popularity.
The AfD achieved its best-ever score of just over 20 percent in February’s vote.
Wednesday’s decisions are expected to be approved by parliament before the summer break starting in July.
The tougher border controls introduced earlier this month aim at turning back all undocumented migrants, including asylum seekers, and have irritated some of Germany’s neighbours.
“It’s not surprising that these decisions have attracted criticism,” Dobrindt said.
“But they are necessary to show clearly that we have changed course when it comes to migration.” — AFP
These were the details of the news New Germany, new rules: Chancellor Merz halts migrant family reunions, toughens citizenship for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
