Months after Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a partial ban burqa in the country, the country’s Lower House has approved a law that aims to prevent civil servants, judges and soldiers from wearing burqa at work.
The bill will now go to the Upper House for final approval.
More than a million migrants, including many Middle Eastern Muslims, have gone to Germany over the past 18 months.
There have been several jihadist attacks, including a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market that claimed 12 lives.
The burqa is a strict Muslim veil for women that covers the full head and body. Not many people in Germany wear it.
After the approval on Thursday, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the move to ban the burqa showed how far tolerance towards other cultures would go in Germany.
Right-wing parties want Germany to emulate France where a total ban on wearing burqas in public places as has been in force since 2011.
Last December, Merkel had called for a ban on full-face veils wherever legally possible, saying they were not appropriate in her country.
In February the state of Bavaria announced plans to ban the full-face veil in government workplaces, schools, universities and while driving.
France, Austria, Belgium and Turkey have all imposed a ban in certain public spaces. Legislation supporting a ban is in progress in the Netherlands, while local bans apply in other nations including Denmark, Russia, Spain and Switzerland.
With IANS Inputs
