please summarize 

before 2024 getting a German citizenship implied for many to renounce to their old citizenship and a lot of people didn't want to do this additional to that it was a big hurdle for some and sometimes even Impossible on January 19th 2024 the German Parliament changed this they passed a new law well an amended law that allows people to have multi- citizenships meaning you don't need to quit your previous citizenship and you can apply for the German citizenship a lot quicker in this video we're going to break down what are the specific new changes and their benefits When does the law come into effect will children born in Germany receive the German citizenship how do you apply what are the costs what are the processing times and what are the benefits of being a German citizen hey my name is Jen and I'm from Guatemala and mine is Ion and I'm German and together we're from simple gy.com where we create English content to empower Internationals to settle into life in Germany more smoothly so let's start with what are the specific changes and new benefits so in October 2022 we have already released a video about how to become a naturalized citizen in Germany and what are the steps and requirements so let's look at those because they're kind of like the old requirements and see what has changed and what are the new requirements so here's the old list of requirements and already with number one we have one of the massive changes because it used to be eight years that you need to be living in Germany legally to apply for citizenship that has been reduced to 5 years in the media of course 3 years is also a big topic and that is true previously there had been um a way to reduce the 8 years with certain achievements this time around with the new mement there's also a way to reduce 5 years to 3 years and there's two main criteria that you need to fulfill one most likely you will need to provide a C1 German language certificate and some extracurricular achievement whether it is in school because you attended in Germany in your job or because you're volunteering in a that's the German word for example with the voluntary firefighters wow and I would say a C1 German I mean that is pretty hardcore in three years again it you need to prove that you really are ready to become a German citizen and language is one key factor yes but it's important to highlight as well that the C1 is just if you apply after three years correct requirement number two Remains the Same which is to declare allegiance to the German Constitution and now it includes a specific commitment to German needs and to read this special historical responsibility to the peaceful coexistence of people and the prohibition of waging a war of aggression it's pretty much kind of like a peace commitment as well yes when I got my German citizenship the first part was true which is declare allegiance to the German Constitution and the way I did that is when I before I received my citizenship I had a conversation with u an official person and they asked me a question it's kind of like a marriage you know do you accept this yes do you accept this yes and at the end I had to sign a document so I could imagine it's a very very similar process and that was not during the application stage but literally just before receiving the official naturalization certificate yes number three also remains intact you still need to have no criminal record and addition to that there is particular now attention to whether you have been related to any anti-semitic racist or other inhuman act so if that is the case you are not eligible for German citizenship and this aligns also to the new commitment to the um Constitution that in Germany everyone is welcome and we don't discriminate against anyone requirement number four is important if you're applying after 5 years and that is to have a B1 German level so you need an official certificate that states that you passed the B1 exam and that is enough to prove your fluency number five is also still accurate and that is you need to prove your ability to support yourself and possible dependent family members financially meaning you cannot be on social support from the government number six Remains the Same and and that is that you need to have a valid residence permit for Germany you need to be here legally yes number seven also Still Remains the Same you need to pass the German citizenship test and there's two names for it there's the test as well as the Le in Dodgeland test and they're both the same questions and format yes and this test you need to study around how many questions was it like 200 I think 300 something 300 and something questions however in the test only 33 are there and you need to pass 17 17 of them very good thank you to be able to pass that test number eight also Remains the Same and that is that you need to be 16 years or older to apply independently for the citizenship if you're below that age then you need to apply through an adult and number nine is one of the other major changes with the new law and that is that you no longer need to renounce your current citizenship that means it's not just dual citizenship that is now um possible but generally speaking multi citizenship so you can also have three citizenships it's perfectly fine you no longer need to anounce and that is a massive change because some nationalities actually renouncing which is technically possible was super super difficult and sometimes even meant you put yourself in danger uh others were super expensive and for others it's just also an emotional um thing right so number one and nine are the two massive changes of the amendment of the law and now to the big question is when does this law come into effect we are recording in January 2024 and the law has passed but it has not yet come into effect right correct yes and today is the 29th of January and I just checked this morning that the law still has not been published so what do I mean by published it needs to be uh printed or digitalized in the German um Federal Gazette where all the laws of the de democracy are being published and only once that happens from there onwards three months later the law will take effect so the publishing date is still unknown because there are a few other steps that need to be taken can watch our video about how laws are made in Germany to learn what these steps are and experts estimate for the law to come into effect May some even say June I mean if we think about it now end of January so we have February March April so that's definitely gone so may is really the earliest if everything is fast now potentially June it really depends however you do not need to wait for the law to come into effect to apply for your citizenship the thing is that applying for citizenship takes time so you first need to get a consultation gather all the documents and the application it needs to go through the approval process and so on so if you apply now and you get your citizenship after the law has passed then you're good has taken effect sorry has taken effect then you're good and you can have multiple citizens citizenships yeah I would say it's more or less guaranteed if you apply now that you will only receive it after the law has come into effect because it will take probably more than three months yes yeah for sure and a very important question a lot of Internationals have is Will children receive a German citizenship if they're born in Germany and that depends on you your status as a parent in the past your children if they're born in Germany would only receive German citizenship by birth if you or one of the parents had been legally a resident in Germany for 8 years that has also been reduced in correspondence to generally achieving German citizenship to 5 years so one of the two parents has been living in Germany legally 5 years then the children or the child will receive German citizenship by birth of course also if one of the parents is a German citizen already however it's important to state that in this case the law does not work retroactively meaning if a child is born tomorrow the law is not in effect yet and the 8 years still apply so this reducement in time will only apply to children that are born after the law actually took effect if you're finding the content of this video helpful then please consider hitting that like And subscribe button and if you want to go the extra mile to support simple Germany you can always buy us a virtual coffee at simple.com coffee thank you for your support another big question is how do you apply to your German citizenship and the answer is it dependend well not really so you need to apply with the immigration office that is a fact anywhere however the it depends refers to the process of applying we've researched a little bit in depth some of the bigger cities and there are some differences for example here in dorf you first need to have a phone consultation where they will check your individual case whether you fulfill the requirements and which documents you actually need to present you will then have to gather those documents and send them in Via poster mail you will only be asked for an physical like a personal appointment um to actually submit your biometric data like your your photo your fingerprints your signature and so on this is a new process for dorf because when I applied for my German citizenship I had to go in person to this appointment and I sat with a person and they explained to me face to face the things that I needed so now it's a phone consultation which is is quite interesting I guess in Berlin for example they have been working hard in the past months to create a central immigration Naturalization office before it was neighborhood by neighborhood now it's all centralized and they accept applications only digitally so it's best that you Google your City Plus inar and then you will find out what applies for your city it's super important though yes I wanted to say it's super important that however you apply when you present your documents try to make the job of the person receiving the documents as easy as possible possible if you need to send them digitally then name each document ideally with your first name last name maybe even date of birth and the name of the document if you're going to send them through snail mail then also make sure that they're in the right order maybe highlight the the name of the document put cop if something it's a copy remember that the person receiving this is receiving a lot of applications and the easier they're able to grasp what documents are there and what are missing I believe the faster your application can be processed your keyword there was missing ideally don't miss anything because in the past when we had physical appointments they could tell you this is missing go back home make a new appointment but now since you don't have a direct feedback loop it could take again days or weeks for you to even know that something's missing yeah so really double check that your application is complete in what they require from you in the previous consultation because everyone might have different documents you to submit for us it was a rental contract or a confirmation of the landlord that you were under my rental contract back in the day your health insurance confirmation a German CV and there it really just doesn't need to be your CV you apply for a job with but just a very simple CV in German that outlines your kind of like career your past life in that sense we do have a template in our online shop if you'd like to um quick start that step and there might be other documents that you require if you want to get that template for the German CV you can find the link in the description below how much does it cost to get a German citizenship and the answer also I think it depends it depends again on how many translations do you need how many uh pictures are you taking for passwort are you applying alone or for family members I will give you the example of how much I paid to give you an estimation or p as a German say so you can have an idea so back in 2020 when I applied here are my costs the fee for the application is € 255 which that still the same remained the same my criminal record was 13 the naturalization test was €25 for translations I paid €68 and if I remember correctly the only thing I translated was my birth certificate I had to take two uh passport pictures and for that I paid €20 the application to the passport was €60 and this in 2024 has changed it now cost €70 to apply for a German passport if you older than 24 years cuz there's a cheaper price if you're younger because it's valid only for 5 years and if you're 24 years and older it's valid for 10 years a good point mhm and to apply for the personal Alice or the German ID card it was 37 years so so Back in the Day in 2020 I paid a total of € 478 if you had the 10-year difference if you're above 24 then it would be $488 calculate 500 more or less exactly I double checked all the other prices and they're all still accurate to this date so what are the processing times how long does it take to get your German citizenship very good question and of course what we're going to answer now is our own opinion and research we cannot guarantee how long it takes for you generally speaking applications for German citizenship should be fast than before because you no longer need to renounce your old citizenship and this the renouncing part usually took a lot of time sometimes even half a year because the German government needs to communicate with the government of your home country and it's a whole back and forth kind of thing now with this a new Amendment of the law of course a lot more people living in Germany suddenly all at once qualify or are eligible for naturalization now it doesn't mean that everyone will apply for it but it's just a lot more um possibility for me more people applying more demand more demand yes experts estimate that the applications Will Rise by two to three times now the immigration officers are of course taking steps to be ready for more applications in general for example by no longer having personal consultations but by digitizing applications by doing phone consultations those are all steps to become more efficient they will still most likely take longer than in the past and again here experts estimate for an application to take or around 2 years that is just a very general estimation I mean again back in the day when yours took one and a half years we knew of other people where it took three months where it took six months where it took one year and where it took two years so it's really a highly individual Case by case scenario yes it maybe a very detailed thing to point out but as far as I understand how the Immigration Office Works your case is assigned by your the first letter of your last name so of course it is with one immigration officer and I think it depends on the workload on that person I mean if you have a last name with a z maybe you might be in luck because there's less Z people I don't know just guessing yeah um but anyways patience is key I think that's what we're trying to say patience is key meaning the time frame that you're eligible has been reduced but maybe that will actually not come into effect that you will get the citizenship also faster I mean five plus let's say 2 years weight time is still 7 years is still faster than 8 years plus one and a half years weight time but just be patient and just don't make any plans based on the having the German citizenship too tight to your application date once your citizenship is approved though I don't know I think I still remember the day when I got the letter when it said your citizenship is approved here is your Ted mean your date to go pick it up unfortunately because it was during Co there was no special ceremony with fireworks and everything as I imagined it kidding there were no fireworks to begin with but I remember back in the day people had told me that here in dorf the immigration office has small ceremon Monies to give the citizenship kind of like in public to the new citizens and now after Co they want to implement that again right so that's pretty cool so in my experience I went to pick up my citizenship paper or certificate in an official office where I spoke to a clerk and she was super cute uh when she handed me the paper she was very nice and she said like oh hli and Gluk which means like oh good luck and congratulations congratulations yeah true true and she was super nice and I remember I had a little bit of a of a tear in my eye and it was a very emotional and exciting moment yeah in that moment uh important to point out you receive the certificate then you get a piece of paper that with that piece of paper you can go apply for your passport and ID card so you get your citizenship but it still takes a few weeks until you actually get the passport and ID card correct and that paper that you get on in that appointment is just a fast track to apply for your passport and German ID on that day in the burger arm so at your citizen office because usually for that you also need an appointment and this kind of paper is a waiver to need an appointment so this was our experience I don't know if this happens in other cities as well right correct yeah but if you do get it highly suggested to use it that day because otherwise you could wait again weeks to get actually appointment for an ID and a passport yes and again to emphasize receiving actual your physical passport and ID card would take maybe around three to four weeks there's a fast track also that you can pay to get your passport quicker more expensive of course and then you can go pick it up and then that's it and what are the benefits of becoming a German citizen well number one I would say it's the possibility to be able to shap this country you are able to vote and that is a crucial right to be able to take impact in the future of the country another one is more possibilities to travel freely for example I have also a Guatemalan passport and with that passport I need visas for a lot of countries but not only that I have realized while traveling with my German passport I get treated differently actually especially in the US borders back in the day I was uh scr scrutinized a lot and asked a lot of questions with my Guatemalan passport now I show my German passport and the other day an immigration officer even spoke German to me like super chirpy like oh this is the wor I know about Germany asked me where are you staying bam sealed in so I do feel a massive difference of traveling with the German passport than I did with the Guatemala one which is crazy right that the world is divided in such a way it is yes and additional to not needing as many visas is also that you can leave Germany for more than 6 months without needing permission beforehand because typically on a permanent residency 6 months is the maximum you can leave the country and and I mean as a citizen you can leave forever long you want and still re-enter whenever you want as well without any problems as long as your passport is valid yes you also have the possibility to become a German civil servant and be AMTA if that is the way you'd like to go and the massive perk which for me has been like amazing is that you no longer need to go to the outsa never her yeah they have one customer less yes so that's amazing with the new passport of course I had to learn how to navigate patriotism in Germany because patriotism here is very different to how it is in my home country of Guatemala if you want to know how Germans in our opinion see Germany you can watch her video on patriotism here on the left until next time cheers bloopers she like said like oh I hate saying that word okay I can't say that course 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