Some experts caution that progress may be slow, noting parts of Germany's administrative machinery are already creaking under a big backlog of existing citizenship applications. German citizenship is not a condition of employment for migrants, but Germany wants to establish itself as a migration destination for foreign talent, like the U.S. and Canada, and Berlin hopes the prospect of a smoother, quicker path to German nationality will attract skilled migrants. But with German authorities already overwhelmed by thousands of backlogged naturalisation applications, some experts doubt the reforms can quickly achieve their main goal of luring global talent to fill hundreds of thousands of vacancies. Migrants complain of long waits even for a first citizenship consultation appointment. "Even with this reform in Germany, access to citizenship is still much easier in traditional immigration countries like Canada.

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Persons: Fabrizio Bensch, Holger Kolb, Kolb, Mediendienst Intergation, Nancy Faeser, Tariq Tabbara, Tabbara, Riham Alkousaa, William Maclean Organizations: Office of Health, Social Affairs, REUTERS, Rights, Integration, Reuters, Berlin University of Economics, Law, Thomson Locations: Berlin, Germany, U.S, Canada, Turkey, Europe, Germany's, Cologne, Dresden, Bielefeld, Hamburg, Munich, Chemnitz