More deportations, faster procedures for granting asylum and payment cards. From 2024, Germany will become less attractive for asylum seekers. At the same time, the immigration of skilled workers will be facilitated.
By law to more qualified workers
Since November 18, a law has been in force in Germany that aims to facilitate the immigration of foreign skilled workers. The most important element: the introduction of the so-called opportunity card (Chancenkarte), which is based on a point system. It includes a one-year residence permit. During this time, cardholders can start looking for a job. The conditions for obtaining it are: knowledge of the German or English language, work experience and a personal connection with Germany.
In the future, foreign skilled workers will have to earn a minimum gross salary of around 43,800 euros per year, instead of the previous 58,400 euros. Asylum seekers who entered the country before 29 March 2023 and have qualifications and a job offer should be able to apply for a residence permit as a skilled worker if they withdraw their asylum claim. Until now, they had to leave the country first and then apply for a work visa from abroad.
In the future, anyone coming to Germany as a highly qualified professional from a country outside the EU should not only be able to bring their spouse and children with them, but also their parents. However, the prerequisite is that the existence of the family members is ensured. Parents cannot apply for social assistance.
The Blue Card of the EU and the “Western Balkan Rule”
The existing regulation for qualified workers with higher education, such as the EU blue card, will be continued and expanded, and the list of so-called deficit occupations. While before it was only mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, engineering professions and medicine, now it also applies to pharmacists, educators and caregivers.
If employers in Germany and candidates from countries outside the EU conclude the so-called contract on the recognition of qualifications, foreign workers will be able to come and work in Germany from March 2024 while the process of recognizing their qualifications is still ongoing. The stay can be extended up to three years.
If they want to bring spouses or minor children, skilled workers must prove that they can support themselves, but they no longer have to prove that they have sufficient housing.
The so-called Western Balkan rule for the employment of workers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia is now valid indefinitely. From June 2024, the annual quota will double to 50,000 workers.
More deportations
“Finally, we must deport en masse those who do not have the right to stay in Germany,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz in an interview with “Der Spiegel” magazine, announcing a tougher government policy. According to official data, in the first half of 2023, 7,861 people were deported from the country, and their request for asylum was rejected. The German government wants to increase that number with the so-called Acceleration of Returns Act.
In the future, deportations should no longer be announced in advance, and the maximum duration of detention of persons being deported should be extended from ten to 28 days, and the police will be given wider powers when searching refugee homes.
In addition, stricter penalties for people smugglers, the possibility of searching the mobile phones of asylum seekers and the possibility of deportation of those suspected of membership in a criminal organization even if they have not committed a crime are foreseen. “It also includes more consistent and faster expulsion and deportation of criminals and people considered a threat to order,” Faeser said.
However, the vote on the legal package was taken off the agenda in mid-December because the Greens demanded changes. It is expected that the law will be voted on in the Bundestag during January, and that it should enter into force at the end of April 2024.
More agreements on the return of migrants
Georgia, Moldova, Kenya, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan – these are the six countries with which the special representative of Germany, Joachim Stamp, negotiated an agreement on the return of migrants. The first contract with Georgia was signed in mid-December. Germany wants to repatriate people without the right to stay and, on the other hand, as an incentive to facilitate the legal immigration of workers and skilled workers to the German labor market.
In addition, more countries should be classified as safe countries of origin, as was done with Georgia and Moldova in November. It is then easier to return people whose asylum applications have been rejected there. The government also wants to reactivate the EU-Turkey agreement on the readmission of refugees. Most of the refugees who come to Germany come from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey.
Faster asylum decisions
Asylum application procedures at the administrative courts in Germany take an average of 26.6 months. In the future, this should be significantly accelerated by standardizing court practice.
Procedures for nationals of countries for which the recognition rate is less than five percent should be completed in three months. In all other cases, asylum decision-making procedures should continue a maximum of six months.
Smaller social benefits
Until now, co-asylum seekers in the ongoing procedure had the right to a special compensation for refugees, and after 18 months the right to social assistance, which is a higher amount. In the future, lower benefits for asylum seekers would be received for twice as long, i.e. 36 months. In addition, instead of the previous payment of compensation in cash, the so-called “Socialcard” – payment card for asylum seekers. Only food and other products for daily needs can be bought with it in stores. This is intended to limit the possibilities of asylum seekers to send money to their relatives in their homeland, DW reports.
