Nearly 300,000 foreigners were naturalized in Germany in 2024 alone, a shockingly large number. But apparently quite a few applicants obtained the desired German citizenship by resorting to fraud.
According to reports by RTL and Stern, the head of a southern German immigration office found around 340 “manipulated” language certificates submitted by applicants (who are supposed to prove their fluency in German) in just one week, and over 1,000 cases are currently being examined by the police.
The discovery has sparked political debate over whether these cases should face retroactive consequences.
CDU demands checks on past naturalizations. Alexander Throm, the party’s domestic policy spokesman, said “If there is suspicion that fraud has been committed in naturalizations using forged certificates, the procedures must be subsequently reviewed.” The Federal Ministry of Interior has also woken up, and has said that personal interviews are “essential” to prevent fraud.
FDP (Free Democratic Party) politician Wolfgang Kubicki called the situation a “real scandal.” “I expect the federal government to disclose all information available to it—in particular, whether it is aware of the allegations in question, their extent, and what measures it intends to take to investigate and prevent this abuse,” he wrote on X.
By contrast, the Green Party opposes retroactive reviews. Filiz Polat, the party’s parliamentary manager, told Focus that applicants “should not be subjected to a general presumption of guilt.”
In Berlin, naturalizations often occur with a “click of the mouse” instead of personal interviews, which could detect insufficient German skills. The reason? CDU Mayor Kai Wegner instructed his office to process 40,000 naturalizations this year “without red tape.”
Fake language certificates are also being marketed online, with prices ranging from €750 to €2,700, sometimes including discounts for friends and family.
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