Germany moves to ease citizenship rules

BERLIN—The German government on Friday said it was working on plans to “simplify” the path to citizenship, by speeding up the naturalization of immigrants and allowing dual nationality. Under the proposed new rules, naturalization would be possible after five years of residency instead of eight, and even as little as three years for people deemed to have integrated particularly well. Children born in Germany would automatically become citizens if one of their immigrant parents has lived in the country legally for at least five years. The interior ministry said it was planning to relax some language requirements for elderly immigrants and make it easier for people to hold multiple nationalities. It comes as Germany, an aging country home to more than 80 million people, faces an acute shortage of workers across numerous industries. The labor ministry has predicted a shortfall of some 240,000 skilled workers by 2026 in Europe’s biggest economy.