The doors are closing: Refugees in Germany face harsh new reality

Germany has scrapped a Labour Party–style plan that rewarded migrants for voluntary work in the country, after deciding the initiative was a mistake.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz halted the fast-track citizenship plan for migrants just one year after its launch, following a public backlash.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Interior Minister, said in June: “It was a mistake. German citizenship must come at the end of the integration process, not at the beginning.”

These plans, aimed at accelerating the integration process for migrants through voluntary work, were similar to proposals recently put forward by Shabana Mahmood, the UK Home Secretary.

Introduced in 2024 by then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Germany and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the initiatives allowed migrants who demonstrated a high level of integration—including voluntary work and strong German language skills—to obtain citizenship in three years instead of five.

To qualify, migrants had to present official documents such as letters, certificates, confirmations from volunteer organizations, and records of their working hours.

However, the plans were rejected by German conservatives as “turbo citizenship,” with critics claiming that three years was not enough to qualify for nationality.

German-style crackdown

At the same time that Merz scrapped the fast-track citizenship law, he also suspended family reunification rights for refugees, and his new government escalated its crackdown on migrants.

Merz formed a coalition with the center-left SPD, the party once led by Scholz. The parties agreed to drop these reforms during coalition negotiations.

According to The Telegraph, Germany is undergoing a fundamental shift in its migration policy.

Since Merz took office in May, the German government has been turning away asylum seekers at its land borders.

The Chancellor has stated that Germany should accept fewer than 100,000 asylum seekers annually. He claimed that the country’s public services have been “overwhelmed” by migrants.

He argued that anyone entering by land has already passed through a safe country. Critics, however, say this position violates EU asylum law. Merz has also accelerated deportations.

Earlier this month, reports revealed that for the first time in over a decade, the number of refugees living in Germany has declined. In the first half of 2025 alone, the refugee population fell by more than 50,000—an outcome of the German government’s anti-human-rights policies in recent months.