More and more civil war refugees from Syria are becoming Germans. According to the Integration and Migration Advisory Council (SVR), 19,100 Syrian refugees acquired German citizenship in 2020.

This is a threefold increase compared to 2020. The trend is expected to continue in the coming years. In 2021, a total of 131,600 people who moved from abroad obtained German citizenship. This is 20 percent more than the previous year.

As a result of the civil war that has been going on in Syria since 2011, thousands of people fled to Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, at the end of 2021, about 868,000 Syrians were living in Germany. Jan Schneider, SVR’s chief scientific officer, said the high number of naturalizations is an indication that the integration of people of Syrian descent in Germany is progressing well.

In the period from 2022 to 2024, approximately 39,000 more Syrian refugees are expected to be naturalized. Schneider explained that if the current momentum is maintained, there could be even 157,000 over the same period. The prerequisite is that the authorities can process such a large number of applications without major delays.

It is stated that the majority of those who fled to Germany in 2015 and 2016 will have reached the minimum length of stay required for naturalization by 2024.

At the same time, it can be assumed that other criteria are met.
intent.

Participation in integration courses and other language development measures work especially well. Much progress has also been made in terms of labor market integration.

Despite setbacks at the start of the corona pandemic, employment statistics among refugees have been positive again since summer 2020. “The proportion of Hartz IV recipients has decreased and the number of workers subject to social insurance contributions from the asylum seekers’ main country of origin has increased significantly recently,” Schneider said.