Syrians topped the list of nationalities obtaining German citizenship in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the fifth consecutive year.
According to data from the state statistical office, IT.NRW, 18,567 Syrians received naturalization certificates in North Rhine-Westphalia, representing 24.4% of all naturalization cases.
Despite this, the number of Syrians naturalized in 2025 fell by 23.7% compared with the previous year, when 24,349 Syrians obtained German citizenship in 2024.
Overall, the state naturalized 76,156 foreigners in 2025, the highest figure recorded since 2000. This represented a 10.8% increase compared with 2024, when 68,703 people were naturalized.
The increase is attributed to the Citizenship Modernization Act, which entered into force on 27 June 2024. The law reduced the required period of residence for obtaining citizenship from seven or six years to only three years, and allowed naturalized citizens to keep their original nationality.
In this context, the number of Syrian citizens migrating to Germany fell by 46.5% in 2025. According to preliminary migration statistics issued by the Federal Statistical Office, registration authorities recorded around 40,000 Syrian migrants between January and September 2025, compared with more than 74,600 migrants between January and September 2024.
Financial Incentives for Syrians’ Return
The German government is studying new incentives to encourage Syrian refugees to return voluntarily to Syria.
Government sources told the German newspaper Focus Online that the Federal Interior Ministry is currently considering granting Syrian refugees a return bonus of up to 8,000 euros.
The German newspaper said more than 900,000 Syrians who do not hold German passports currently live in Germany, including more than 500,000 who hold temporary residence permits based on subsidiary protection or refugee status.
The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag cited statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, issued in February, indicating that 3,678 Syrian refugees returned voluntarily from Germany during 2025.
Stability Prevents Return from Germany
Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek, a migration researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, told the German website t-online that Germany lacks the factors that would motivate Syrians to return to their homeland.
Şahin-Mencütek said that “the situation of Syrians is more stable there, their trust in the host country is greater, and their hope for stability and a secure future is much stronger.”
According to Şahin-Mencütek, Syria lacks the “institutional and economic capacities and infrastructure” needed to absorb the return of large numbers of Syrians. The expert said job opportunities and basic needs, such as health care, education, energy, and water, must be provided.
However, many areas remain far from achieving this. The expert concluded that “the government and Syrian society are not prepared to receive large numbers of returnees.”
After about a year and a half, large numbers of people have already returned to Syria. New figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees show that 1.63 million Syrians had returned to their homeland by the end of April, but the number returning from Germany remains low.
In these figures, Germany is listed only under the category of “other countries,” from which nearly 6,100 people returned. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), 3,678 Syrian refugees left Germany last year.
With more than 900,000 Syrians living in Germany, the question arises as to why so few want to return to Syria. The reasons vary, including integration, history, conditions on the ground, and conditions in other countries.