"on grounds of public interest"--understanding the (possible) reduction of 3 year residency requirement for spouse's naturalization
As I understand it, for the non-German spouse of a German citizen to acquire citizenship, there is one basic criterion: residency in Germany for 3 years (and the marriage itself has existed for 2 years). But the following line of the Nationality Act about a possible reduction of that 3 year rule is interesting:
"The length of residence in sentence 1 may be reduced on grounds of public interest if the marriage or registered civil partnership has existed for three years." (full text here).
I've seen it explained that "public interest" in this case refers to the benefit of German society of having a noted scientist or other expert become German. I can follow the logic of that, I think.
But does anyone know how this is determined...like, what is the threshold that has to be met for a reduction in that time on the grounds of public interest? Does anyone have any experience with this?
What if, say, my spouse were something like a university professor, an expert in the field? Could I make such an argument?