According to the recently released 2025 budget, the German government will halve the amount of money previously spent on funding integration courses for migrants.
The 1,1 billion euros earmarked for funding integration courses in Germany in 2024 will be cut to 500 million euros in 2025, according to the Interior Ministry. Experts predict that the budget cuts will make it harder for newcomers to integrate into the German job market.
Many non-EU nationals are either entitled or obliged to attend an integration course upon arrival in Germany. Most integration courses begin with a German language course, which equips migrants with everyday language skills.
All participants are required to pay the integration course provider a contribution of 2,29 euros per lesson, which is paid as a lump sum of 229 euros before each 100-hour module. In certain cases, participants have their costs covered fully by the German government.
The budget cut news comes just days after a new study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) praised Germany - now the OECD member country with the highest number of migrants after the US - for its efforts to help migrants integrate.
However, the area where Germany’s efforts fall short according to the OECD, was in education. While two-thirds of migrants to Germany have developed good skills informally at language classes or integration courses within the first five years of living in the federal republic, the number drops off sharply among migrants with little to no formal education.
Only one-quarter of migrants without formal schooling can speak German five years after they arrive. For the same group, the number of people in work is also much lower, at 50 percent, compared to 70 percent among the overall immigrant population, which is significantly higher than in most other EU peer countries.
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