The German government has adopted a new law on migration, thanks to which certain categories of refugees will be able to obtain a permit for permanent residence under a simplified scheme.

To whom does it concern?

According to German laws, a category of people with the so-called "tolerance status" is allocated among refugees. Usually, these are refugees whose application for asylum was not accepted, for example, due to lack of documents, or this status is given to minors who arrived in the country unaccompanied by adults and whose legal representatives did not apply for asylum. This category of migrants did not receive a residence permit in Germany and must actually leave the country. However, deportation is not possible, for example, due to a military conflict in the region of residence, violation of transport routes, or lack of personal documents. Therefore, such refugees remain in the state with a "status of tolerance" and with rather limited rights for many years.

What will change?

From now on, such migrants who have lived in Germany for more than 5 years as of January 1, 2022, have not committed crimes and are well integrated into society can apply for and receive a residence permit in the country for one year. During this time, they will have a chance to fulfill all the requirements for obtaining the right to permanent residence: prove that they have a job and earn enough money to live freely in the state, speak German, and more. The Cabinet of Ministers of Germany calculated that the law will allow providing new living conditions to about 136,000 refugees.

For people under the age of 27, the rules are even more simplified, they can apply after 3 years of permanent residence in Germany.

Streamlining the relocation system for skilled workers and new refugees

Other provisions of the bill relate to the immigration of skilled workers. The German government wants to facilitate the simplification of the relocation system for IT specialists and other workers who have professions that are extremely necessary for the state. From now on, first of all, specialists have the opportunity to move immediately with their families, because according to the new law, family members do not necessarily have to speak German. Previously, it was impossible to move to the country without knowing the language.

It was also decided to make integration easier for asylum seekers: in the future, they will have access to integration courses and learning German immediately after moving.

As part of the laws, the period of detention before deportation was increased from 3 to 6 months. During this period, a number of measures necessary for the deportation of offenders will be carried out.

In the future, the German government plans to adopt two more packages of laws aimed at simplifying the country's migration policy.