German push to ease migrants' citizenship path faces red tape reality check

FILE PHOTO: Migrants queue on a street to enter the compound outside the Berlin Office of Health and Social Affairs (LAGESO) for their registration process in Berlin, Germany, December 9, 2015. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's cabinet on Wednesday passed a draft bill to ease the citizenship law, hoping a faster track to German nationality will attract skilled migrants to plug chronic labour shortages holding back Europe's biggest economy.

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.