Commenter “blert” writes [emphasis mine]:

…[K]eep in mind that these so-called refugees are not being given a path to German citizenship. That would be a daunting project for even German-Americans to obtain.

Europe just does not recognize birth-right citizenship. Instead, ”˜guest-workers’ can stay in-country based upon their documents. These provide for perpetual non-citizen status.

Actually, very few countries in the world recognize automatic birthright citizenship. And by “very few” I mean two first world countries: the US and Canada. The other countries granting automatic birthright citizenship are all third-world countries, most of them in Latin America (see a list here; I also wrote about birthright citizenship in this post from July of 2014).

However, that doesn’t mean that the “so-called refugees” (or actual refugees, for that matter) don’t have a path to citizenship in Germany. They do. Here’s the way it works:

Children born on or after 1 January 2000 to non-German parents acquire German citizenship at birth if at least one parent:

–has a permanent residence permit and
–has been residing in Germany for at least eight years.

In order to retain German citizenship, such children are required to take affirmative measures by age 23, after which their German citizenship otherwise expires. These affirmative measures may include proof of the applicant’s link to Germany, which comprises either of the following:

–resided in Germany for at least eight years during their 21 first years of life
–has attended a school in Germany for at least six years
–has graduated from a school in Germany
–successfully finished vocational/ professional training in Germany

These requirements are fulfilled in the vast majority of cases. If they are not fulfilled, the applicant can alternatively prove that he or she does not hold any foreign citizenship other than in a European Union member nation or a nation such as Morocco, Nigeria, or Iran whose domestic law provides that citizenship in it cannot be lost…

Between 1995 and 2004, 1,278,424 people obtained German citizenship by naturalization. This means that about 1.5% of the total German population was naturalized during that period.

That is followed by a chart. I did the math and totaled up the figures, and the chart indicates that, between 1995 and 2012, about 670,000 people of Turkish origin became German citizens, 66,500 Iranians, a very similar number of Serbians and Montenegrans, about 34,000 Afghans, 43,000 Moroccans, and large numbers from several other Muslim countries. Each of these totals is larger than the number coming from any European country and getting German citizenship.

The very newest arrivals (people coming since the Syrian war heated up) are not citizens yet, of course; the multi-year waiting period has not been fulfilled. But they and their children will be eligible later on.

Also, by the way, it says in that Wiki article on German naturalization that “refugees and stateless persons may be able to apply after 6 years of continual residency.”

You can find more here on the requirements for naturalization of immigrants who were not born in Germany. They must:

–have right of residence at the time of naturalisation;
–have been living in Germany permanently and lawfully for eight years (seven if you’ve attended an integration course or six in special integration circumstances);
–be able to support yourself and dependent family members without the help of welfare or unemployment benefits;
–have adequate oral and written German language skills (equivalent to level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages);
–have no criminal convictions; and
–be committed to the constitutional principles of freedom and democracy.

If you look here, you’ll notice that the US has very similar requirements.

And the following is relevant to the issue of German birthright citizenship. A child with at least one German parent is automatically a citizen, but:

If neither parent is German, a baby born on German soil automatically takes German nationality, provided that at the time of birth at least one parent had been living in Germany for eight years and had a permanent right of residence or is Swiss. In these cases, a child is also entitled to take the nationality of the parents (dual nationality). This only applies, however, to children born after 1 January 2000; the claim period for children born before then has already closed.

There is indeed a difference between the process of receiving German citizenship and ours, and it’s a reflection of our different concepts of nationality. In the US it is definitely easier to become a citizen by birth. But it isn’t all that difficult to become a citizen in Germany, either, either by birth or by naturalization. I would imagine that many Germans are quite aware of this, and that they believe that the recent influx of people from Islamic countries will change the demographics of the citizenry of Germany.