Germany: New Immigration Act
01 March 2005
- More restrictions on refugees and migrants introduced
On 1 January 2005, a new Immigration Act entered into force. It had been debated since August 2001, when the first draft was published. The parliamentary process was frustrated by the conservative parties which opposed the law, deeming it too liberal and they demanded more restrictions on foreigner's rights to work and more powers to deport "terrorists" (see Statewatch Vol 14 no 2). After the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004, the debates exclusively focused on terrorism and led to the introduction of far-reaching security measures. With the watering down of more liberal proposals, the final draft was published on 5 August 2004 (BGBl. I S. 1950) and is called the
Law on the management and restriction of immigration and on the regulation of the residency and integration of EU citizens and foreigners. It excludes undocumented immigration. Its main aims are claimed to be the facilitation of skilled labour immigration, the integration of foreigners and the inclusion of EU guidelines on asylum law. However, the asylum law was considerably restricted and labour migration is allowed only for entrepreneurs with vast amounts of starting capital.
The Act amends existing law in the areas of freedom of movement for EU citizens, asylum procedural law, citizenship and asylum law. The former Aliens Act (Ausländergesetz) was replaced with the Residency Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz). Below is an outline of the main aspects of the new law and the critique put forward by migrant and refugee support organisations.
Structural changes
1. Residency permits are reduced from five to two different kinds: limited and unlimited permits, which are determined on the grounds of the purpose of the stay (education, work, family reunion, humanitarian reasons).
2. The newly formed Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge) replaces the existing Federal Office for the Acceptance of Foreign Refugees (
Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge) and takes over the following tasks:
- developing and implementing of integration courses for foreigners
- managing the central data bank of foreigners registered in Germany (Ausländerzentralregister)
- implementing measures promoting "voluntary return"
- carrying out research on migration
- coordinating information exchange on labour migration amongst the foreigners authorities, the German labour office and German representations abroad.
Labour migration
1. Highly qualified workers are eligible for a residency permit (ß 19 AufenthG), their family members are allowed to work (s 29 AufenthG).
2. Promotion of settlement of entrepreneurs, who can receive a limited residency permit if they invest 1 million EUR and create 10 new jobs. In other cases an individual case examination may follow.
3. Students will have one year to look for a job in Germany after the completion of their studies (s 16 Abs. 4 AufenthG).
4. Formerly separate procedures for granting work and residency permits are conflated (s 39 Abs. 1 AufenthaltG).
5. The existing labour recruitment restriction that was introduced in the 1970's for low skilled labour migrants remains, with possible exceptions for certain sectors.
6. The existing labour recruitment restriction for highly skilled labour remains, with possible exceptions for certain sectors and if there is "public interest" (s 18 Abs. 4 AufenthG).
7. Qualified labour migrants who are citizens of EU accession countries receive more favourable conditions to access the German labour market than third country residents but only if no German citizens can fulfil the position (s 39 Abs. 6 AufenthG).
The demand for easing immigration controls for demographic and economic reasons that has also been voiced through official channels in recent years has not been met as the criteria for becoming eligible<