Germany naturalized more people in 2025 than in any year on record, and the overwhelming majority of them kept their original passport. Official figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) show that around 332,500 foreign nationals became German citizens in 2025, while Mediendienst Integration data put dual-citizenship retention rates between 85 and 98 percent. Together, the numbers reveal how the country's 2024 citizenship reform has reshaped who becomes German, and on what terms.
For most of recent German history, dual citizenship was the exception rather than the rule. Under the long-standing principle of avoiding multiple nationality, applicants generally had to give up their original citizenship, unless their home country refused to release them, or they held the nationality of another EU state or Switzerland. The 2024 reform, known as the StARModG, swept that principle aside, allowing naturalized citizens to keep their previous nationality alongside their new German passport.
The effect has been striking. Among new citizens in the cities that tracked the data, between 85 and 98 percent retained their original nationality. Many did so for emotional reasons, a continued sense of belonging to their country of birth, while others cited practical advantages, such as the ability to own property abroad or preserve inheritance and residence rights.
The relatively small number of new citizens who did not keep their original nationality generally fell into two groups. Some were stateless before naturalization and therefore had no prior citizenship to retain. Others came from countries that do not allow multiple nationality, or permit it only in rare exceptions. Countries such as India, Ethiopia, and Eritrea fall into this category, meaning their nationals often must relinquish their original citizenship to become German.
The headline figure is remarkable. Around 332,500 people were naturalized in 2025, up 14 percent, about 40,500 more, on the roughly 292,000 recorded in 2024. It was the fifth consecutive year in which the number rose, and the first time the annual total has exceeded 300,000 since the statistics began in 2000.
Syrian nationals were again the largest group, as they have been every year since 2021, accounting for one in five new citizens (20 percent, or 65,600). Notably, however, the number of Syrians naturalized actually fell 21 percent from 83,200 in 2024. Behind Syria, and at a clear distance, came citizens of Turkey (10 percent, or 34,100) and Russia (6 percent, or 19,700), both up by more than half (51 percent each) year on year. Even sharper growth came from Bosnian (up 126 percent to 8,800), US American (up 100 percent to 6,600), and Albanian (up 97 percent to 6,100) nationals.
The vast majority of new citizens took conventional paths. Standard naturalizations, which require at least five years of lawful residence, made up 72 percent of cases, while the co-naturalization of spouses and children accounted for another 19 percent, together 91 percent of the total, up from 86 percent in 2024.
A further 4 percent were restitution cases: people stripped of citizenship during the Nazi era, and their descendants, regaining German nationality. These rose 61 percent to 12,000. By contrast, the fast-track or "turbo" route, which allowed a shortened residence period of as little as three years for applicants who showed exceptional integration, played almost no role. Only around 1,500 people used it (under 1 percent, down from 7 percent in 2024) before it was removed from the law at the end of October 2025.
The average length of residence before naturalization edged up to 12.4 years, from 11.8 in 2024. The figure varied widely by origin: Syrians naturalized after an average of just 7.9 years, reflecting a tendency to apply as soon as they meet the requirements, while Turkish and Russian nationals had lived in Germany far longer, 24.1 and 14.1 years on average, respectively.
Destatis attributes the sharp increases among Turkish and Russian nationals, both up 51 percent year on year, most likely to the dual-citizenship reform: because these groups can now keep their original passports, the earlier requirement to give them up no longer applies.
For Syrians, the agency notes a different and continuing pattern, they tend to seek naturalization as soon as they meet the formal requirements, which helps explain why their average residence time, at 7.9 years, is so much shorter than the 24.1 years for Turkish nationals and 14.1 years for Russians.
For the first time, 2025 also brought official national figures on applications filed and cases completed. Some 467,400 naturalization applications were submitted during the year, with Syrian (15 percent, 69,700), Turkish (11 percent, 53,300), and Russian (5 percent, 24,100) nationals the largest groups, mirroring the naturalization ranking.
Authorities completed 371,100 cases over the year. Of these, 90 percent ended in naturalization, 5 percent were withdrawn by the applicant, around 3 percent were rejected, and a further 3 percent ended in other ways, such as the applicant's death or departure abroad.
With far more applications filed than processed, the backlog kept building. City-level surveys underline the pressure: Munich had more than 40,200 open cases, Hamburg about 32,000, and Bremen 13,400, while the Darmstadt regional authority, covering Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, held around 66,000, about 2.4 times the previous year's level.
Yes. Since the 2024 reform (StARModG), dual citizenship is generally permitted, allowing new citizens to keep their original nationality alongside their German passport.
A record 332,500, up 14 percent on 2024 and the first time the annual figure has topped 300,000 since records began in 2000.
Between 85 and 98 percent retained their original nationality in 2025.
At least five years for a standard naturalization. In practice, the average residence before naturalization was 12.4 years in 2025.
The 2025 figures point to a clear shift: dual citizenship has become the default for new German citizens, and naturalizations have reached an all-time high. Much of the surge is driven by long-settled residents, especially Turkish and Russian nationals, who no longer have to give up their original passport. Syria remains the single largest source country, even as its numbers ease, while authorities continue to face a substantial and growing backlog of pending applications.
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