(NUREMBERG) — City officials in Nuremberg reported that 5,089 residents acquired German citizenship between August 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025, a surge that made people of Turkish origin the largest group of new citizens in the Bavarian city.
Municipal communications tied the rise to Germany’s modernized citizenship rules and to pent-up demand among long-term residents who previously held off from applying.
Turks ranked ahead of Syrians and Russians among the newly naturalized, with Iraqis, Ukrainians and Romanians also among the significant groups, the city reported.
Nuremberg’s record numbers come as cities across Germany process more applications after reforms that changed who can qualify and how quickly, while also adding new political and administrative pressures to local authorities that handle citizenship cases.
In Nuremberg, officials framed the jump as a reflection of the city’s diversity. The 5,089 new citizens came from 117 different countries, according to the municipality.
The scale is visible in public ceremonies as well as in application queues. During a festive naturalization event at the Meistersingerhalle on February 19, 2026, Metropolitan Mayor Marcus König officially welcomed approximately 1,000 of the new citizens.
“This evening stands for confidence, a safe home, and social solidarity—and for the fact that we have the great opportunity to actively and jointly shape our future in a society grounded in democratic principles and the rule of law,” König said.
The city described the Nuremberg intake as notably broad, with Turks the largest group, Syrians second and Russians third. Officials pointed to the long list of origins as a sign that citizenship is increasingly sought by residents from many migration histories, not one single wave.
Iraq, Ukraine and Romania featured as other significant groups, the city said, underscoring how the latest naturalizations include people with different reasons for coming to Germany and different paths to eligibility.
Local demographics help explain why citizenship carries political weight in Nuremberg, where approximately 52% of the population now has a migration background, meaning individuals who moved to Germany or whose families did.
For new citizens, the change is immediate in day-to-day civic life. Naturalization brings full voting rights and the ability to participate in political decisions at every level open to citizens, a step the city highlighted as part of belonging in a diverse municipality.
Among Turkish residents, the city data also illustrates how long some applicants waited before taking this step. Many Turkish residents had lived in Germany for an average of 23.1 years before naturalizing, a figure the city linked to earlier rules that required applicants to give up Turkish citizenship.
Municipal officials said the removal of the requirement to renounce Turkish citizenship in 2024 became the primary driver for this group finally taking up German passports, aligning personal decisions with the legal changes.
Germany’s national reforms provide the backdrop for Nuremberg’s local spike. The Act on the Modernization of Citizenship Law took effect on June 27, 2024, and it broadened acceptance of dual citizenship for non-EU citizens while also shortening the standard residency period for naturalization from eight years to five years.
Those reforms coincided with a nationwide rise in naturalizations. Germany recorded its highest-ever number of naturalizations in 2024, with 291,955 people becoming citizens, a 46% increase from the previous year.
Nuremberg’s jump, city officials indicated, reflects how those national changes played out in an urban setting where many residents had already met language and residency expectations but held off because of the earlier dual-citizenship limits.
Later policy moves began to narrow some of the pathways opened by the modernization effort, changing expectations for prospective applicants and the workload for offices already under strain.
After the election of the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition in early 2025, the “fast-track” 3-year citizenship rule for exceptionally integrated individuals was repealed on October 30, 2025, the government materials said.
In January 2026, new “Anti-Fraud Laws” came into effect that impose a 10-year ban on reapplying for citizenship for anyone found submitting fake documents or hiding criminal records, according to the policy summary in federal materials.
Together, those changes signaled a shift toward tighter consequences for misconduct and the removal of an accelerated option that some applicants may have counted on, potentially reshaping how quickly cases can move through local systems.
Even with the reforms that expanded eligibility, Nuremberg and other major cities have faced processing pressure as applications piled up. The city communications and related summaries cited longer waits, with some applicants facing waits of up to two years as of early 2026.
Longer processing times can shape practical decisions for people in the pipeline, including travel planning, job changes and family timelines, as applicants wait for appointments, document checks and final decisions.
At the February 19 ceremony, König linked citizenship to integration and democratic participation, urging the new citizens to “get involved and speak up” to protect democracy, the city said.
König also used the event to stress the city’s approach to social cohesion. He said the city’s integration guidelines act as a “compass for togetherness in diversity” and represent a “clear rejection of any form of discrimination.”
Nuremberg’s messaging, officials indicated, aimed to place naturalization within a civic frame: the rights of participation, the responsibilities of democratic engagement and the expectation of equality in a city where more than half the population traces its roots to migration.
Outside Germany, officials in the United States also highlighted citizenship and status enforcement during the same week, though in a different legal context. A statement posted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on February 20, 2026, said, “USCIS plays a key role in the denaturalization process to ensure the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system.”
The federal U.S. actions cited in the same period also included a February 20, 2026, announcement by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem terminating Temporary Protected Status for Yemen, effective in 60 days, and a January 21, 2026, State Department review and freeze on immigrant visas for 75 countries, with Germany not on the list.
In Nuremberg, officials focused on the city’s own timeline: a sharp rise in new Germans between August 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025, and a public welcome for approximately 1,000 of them at the Meistersingerhalle on February 19, 2026.
The legal framework behind the surge started with the June 27, 2024, modernization of citizenship rules, while later developments included the October 30, 2025, repeal of the fast-track 3-year rule and the January 2026 anti-fraud measures with a 10-year reapplication ban.
The figures and ceremony details came from City of Nuremberg communications, including material posted in the city’s press releases, while national policy details appeared in German federal government material on citizenship reform. The USCIS statement appeared in the agency’s newsroom.
Turks Lead as 5,089 People Claim German Citizenship in Nuremberg
Nuremberg reported a record 5,089 new citizens from 117 countries, driven by Germany’s 2024 citizenship reforms. Turkish residents, previously deterred by dual-citizenship bans, emerged as the largest group. While the city celebrates this diversity, administrative backlogs and new federal laws—such as the repeal of fast-track options and stricter anti-fraud penalties—are reshaping the path to German nationality amid high demand and processing delays.
