SVR calls German integration course cuts “contradictory"

Update: This article was updated on February 25 to include more detail about the Sofort-in-Arbeit policy.

Germany’s Council of Experts for Integration and Migration has said the government’s decision to reduce access to integration courses is “contradictory” and “backwards”.

German gov’t faces more criticism for course cuts

The Council of Experts for Integration and Migration (SVR) has joined the chorus of organisations criticising the German government’s decision to reduce access to funded integration courses.

In November, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) quietly froze new integration course admissions. The government was widely criticised for its under-the-radar decision. After much confusion and uncertainty for teachers and students, the BAMF eventually confirmed the new rules.

Until now, pretty much all international residents without sufficient German skills could apply to the BAMF to take part in a German integration course. Some residents, such as EU citizens, were not obliged to attend the government-funded courses, but could participate voluntarily.

Going forward, the government will only fund integration courses for international residents who are obliged to attend a course and who the BAMF considers to have prospects to stay in Germany long term.

The cuts are likely to hit asylum seekers from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan the hardest. “[The new rules] are contradictory,” SVR representative Winifried Kluth said in a press release, “if they affect groups whose integration into the labour market is simultaneously being demanded”. 

Kluth warned that BAMF’s decision would have negative economic consequences in the long term. “We must assume that the labour market integration of new arrivals [...] will be significantly delayed without sufficient German language skills. This means that they will likely be dependent on social benefits for longer.”

“The economy will lose out on potential workers. There is a fear that the policy will hit the wrong people, namely those who want to integrate and work,” Kluth explained.

Dobrindt announces “Sofort-in-Arbeit” programme

While the integration course cuts discussion rumbles on, the German government has announced it will soon allow asylum seekers to work after just three months in the federal republic, even if their asylum application is still being processed.

“Anyone who comes here should be able to work – and quickly,” Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) told Bild. “The goal is participation through activity.” According to a spokesperson for Dobrindt, “the new rules do not change the procedure or outcome of the asylum process”.

It is already the case that asylum seekers who have been living in Germany for at least three months can apply to the Federal Employment Agency for a work permit.

However, there is another bureaucratic barrier to working. Newly-arrived asylum seekers are initially required to live in reception centres, and can be obliged to live there for a maximum of 18 months. They are not allowed to work while they are living in a reception centre.

Under the new rules, asylum seekers will be able to work even if they are living in a reception centre.

But the Sofort-in-Arbeit programme has another caveat: the new rules will not apply to certain groups, including people seeking asylum who are from "safe countries of origin", people whose asylum applications have been rejected or who are "not cooperating with authorities" and people whose asylum cases come under EU jurisdiction.

Additionally, according to WELT, Germany plans to increase the number of countries considered safe. This means more asylum seekers may be blocked from working.