Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TOPIC
INTRODUCTION
The history of German migration policy dates back to the time when Germany as such
did not exist. After numerous religious wars in the 16th and 17th centuries, the German
principalities and duchies became one of the first lands in Europe which recognized their
need for labor resources. Given the devastating effect of the wars that Germany waged after
imperial unification, the prerequisites of various requests for the need to attract labor from
abroad became more obvious. After World War II, which left Germany not only destroyed,
but also divided by two ideologies, politicians from both sides tried to retrieve a way out of
their predicament. Many people died in battles and concentration camps, therefore the work
on the restoration and further progress required colossal capacity. The genuine precursor of
modern migration policy in Germany was apparent at the period between 1955 and 1968,
when BRD (Federal Republic of Germany) decided to make a bunch of special labor
agreements with several countries. The first of them were assigned with Italy (1955), Spain
(1960), Greece (1960) and Turkey (1961) (BPB, 2005). This kind of treaties was named
(Recruitment agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and other states) and it
was given a start to develop the real policy in migration sphere for BAMF (Federal Office for
Migration and Refugees). This institute was founded in 1953 mostly for the reasons of the
repatriation of Germans from the lands previously occupied by the Third Reich, the
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acceptance of refugees from DDR (German Democratic Republic) and the regulation of the
massive inflows of former German and foreign aresteers of prisons and stalags both in
Germany and in former occupied countries (BAMF, 2018). This period between 1953 and
1989 was considered by German scholars of migration processes as the time of labor
After the Warsaw Pact dissolution and reunion of two Germanies, another direction of
migration policy was clearly outlined on the agenda - the repatriation of Germans from the
countries of the socialist bloc. Very soon the number of ethnic German resettlers increased
significantly in the Federal Republic of Germany in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.
Returnee immigration reached its first climax in reunified Germany in 1992 and continued to
be relevant until the end of the decade. The period between 1985 to 1999 is usually called the
The third major wave of migration in the German history fell on the period of the
European Union formation and the Dublin Agreements’ adoption, which later became the
main direction of the general migration policy in Europe. Since 2010, the inflow of migrants
has been increasing again. In 2015, immigration was at its highest in the history of the
Federal Republic of Germany, especially due to the large inflow of asylum seekers. The cause
of these statistical shifts is considered to be the aggravated internal conflicts in North and
Central Africa (Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, DR Congo, Somalia, Rwanda), ‘Arab spring’,
the war in Syria, the turbulent situation with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. One
way or another, these events have drawn the migration policy of Germany and BAMF
particularly into two new regulatory currents. The first is the growing tendency in asylum
seeking from the poorest (and necessary to mention, radically islamized) countries. The
second is acting together and within the supranational migration agenda dictated by the EU,
These three described waves of migration and four directions of migration policy
form the general kinds of common migration policy in Germany these days, which does not
suit many political and societal groups in society. It is possible to hear from the different sides
of it a request for a special reaction and plans that will mitigate the negative effect on the
country. Not finding answers in state institutions, the particular NGOs begin to arrange, the
essence of which is to promote their own vision of regulating migration relations. This study
will present an attempt to analyze the reforms of policy practices of the German
Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat (Federal Ministry of the Interior,
Building and Homeland) and the BAMF over the past five years since the crisis of the Dublin
regulation migration processes in Germany (‘regulation from below’). We will try to consider
Tusikov.
separate agency with respect to business using rules’. However, given the current
popularity nowadays. This concept does not imply that the nation state withdraws itself from
the process of control and command. Due to democracy growth around the world, it only
steps aside, hence considers only as a particular actor with a sufficient variety of levers on
specific policy, but NOT absolute. The most important aspects, explaining these changes in
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knowledge; fragmentation of the exercise of power and control; autonomy of social actors;
interconnection between government and particular social actors; the collapse of the
the extent of government influence on any of the political events. 'Decentring' regulation, thus
refers to changing (or differently recognized) capacities of the state and limitations on those
Paul Grabosky in his works propose not a ‘decentred’ model, but rather a polycentric
model of regulation, where the state is not on the sidelines. The state, as well as other actors,
influence regulation, but at the same time it has a greater number of capacities than in the
model, which appears as a lack of strategic coherence and lack of accountability. Despite the
private actions, they are hardly a regulatory panacea. It is activity upstream, that is prior to
the occasioning of harm, which is likely to be more productive, and to which mankind turns
now (Grabosky, 1994). Grabosky repeats after Black that the main issues of CAC model
decrease lie in the withdrawal of state regulatory activities, the increase in the number and
growth of technology influence on the policy processes. Nonetheless, he prefers to call it not
explained by the significant contribution to the development of electronic protest and targeted
elaboration with certain social groups seeking to control the process from below (Grabosky,
2017). Therefore, in addition to weakening the state’s might and NGOs’ amplification, it
must be noticed that the huge role of the Internet and social networks gave the tangible
regulation; subsequently, she comes to the inference that it is necessary to draw attention to
moral, technical or discursive power are used by state and non-state actors, and grasp to how
they exploit their resources to gain structural authority and influence from below to get an
input, which would be able to satisfy as much social actors amongst as possible. Given the
diversity of actors and activities, making up this type of regulation, there is no standard
actors making, implementing and/or enforcing rules and standards across national borders.
array of actors, rules, arrangements, strategies and interests, it is important to examine each
regime’s constituent components (Tusikov, 2017). In the case of Germany, global trends in
regulation (especially migration regulation) are very noticeable. Since Germany is now a kind
of trendsetter of European unity, it remains important, how the state interacts with
supranational institutions, and how the state engages NGOs in the triple dialogue.
However, before finding out whether the current system of migration policy in
Germany can be designated as a particular model, it is worth primarily to examine the latest
governing, operating and regulating by several actors: Federal Ministry of the Interior,
Refugees and Integration (Bundesbeauftragter für MFI); The Federal Office of Migration
and Refugee (BAMF); Federal Office of Administration (BVA). The first two bodies have
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more executive and regulatory powers, while the last two are operational and
practice-oriented. Nevertheless, all these institutions are endowed with initiative and advisory
functions.
the Federal Republic of Germany is ‘intended to manage, control and limit the immigration
of foreigners to our country’. It pays attention to the ability of our society to take in and
integrate new arrivals and to our economic and labour market interests. Migration policy also
serves to meet agency humanitarian obligations before the migrants and refugees (BAMF,
2019). However, the German migration policy has hardly changed since the recent laws that
regulate immigration in a period of relative stability were involved in the general agenda. It is
about such laws as Migration Act (2005), Immigration Law (2005), Labor Law (2007),
Citizen Regulation Law (2008), Meselberg Cabinet Decision (2008). Basically, this package
of laws unites by the general tendency of the state to take responsibility for immigrants’
integration into German society and standardization of common migration regulation for all
EU members. Among the most important innovations are: simultaneous issuance of residence
and work permits, financing language and legal courses with government subsidies,
mitigation of restrictions for several work places, introduction of the ‘golden visa’ practice
for foreign investors, standardization of the citizenship test for all German states, the surcease
of ‘domestic worker preference’ practice for scientists and academic workers with a tertiary
Germany has also not changed much since 2012. Federal Ministry of Interior with the BAMF
and BVA consultation adopted six basic ordinances and acts for foreigners: Residence
Ordinance on Integration Courses, Asylum Procedure Act and the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits
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Act. The last two of them only introduced the peculiar changes to German migration policy,
namely, a reference to full compliance with the requirements of the Dublin II Regulation and
the sanctions for local authorities in the event of their violation (e. g, the refusal of authorized
2012).
On 1 August, 2012, the law implementing the Blue Card Directive in German national
legislation took effect. It modified the former Aufenthaltsgesetz (Residence Act) and
included a new residence title for highly qualified workers. The goals of the new law were to
make Germany more competitive to attract more qualified employees, contribute to reducing
labour shortages and thus benefit the German economy and society. For these ends, the
German government embraced the EU Blue Card. In 2014, Germany issued almost 90
percent of all Blue Cards while most other member states rely on their own national schemes
to admit highly qualified workers. Hence, the Commission looks carefully at Germany in its
efforts to recast the Blue Card Directive in 2016 as the first step to implement its new policy
on migration regulation after the Dublin III Regulation setback (Mayer, 2017). In this case,
the initiative to introduce the national Blue Card can be considered as a kind of illustrative
example for those EU countries that turned out to be neither physically nor mentally prepared
The latest amendment to the German migration framework entered into force on 6
August, 2016. The Integration Act and the Regulation on the Integration Act were aimed to
facilitate the integration of refugees into German society. The basic idea behind the
legislation is a continuation of the policy of “support and challenge”, which had been
introduced in 2005 in the Migration Act. Refugees who show the potential to integrate and
have a good chance of staying permanently in Germany are provided with easier and faster
access to integration classes and employment opportunities, while refugees who refuse to
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cooperate face a reduction in benefits (Gesley, 2017). The difference, albeit small, but is still
present in the new actions. For the first time since 2005, the state has thought about certain
restrictions for migrants and refugees who refuse to undergo the standard procedures. It was
related to re/settlement permission and, foremost, the labor market priority (The Federal
Government, 2016).
refugees was developed and adopted at the initiative of BAMF and BVA, which caused a lot
of controversy in Germany. In the regulatory plane, the law did not introduce anything new,
its essence was only to resettle an additional 1000 migrants per month, provided they are the
direct relatives of refugees already living in Germany. The main contradiction was that the
immigrants, but there was no real progress in this direction (Kazaryan, 2019). In March 2016,
migrants only eligible for subsidiary protection. The bill was introduced just after the
migration crisis in 2015 and aimed to slow down the influx of refugees from besieged regions
of the Middle East. In February 2018, the Bundestag voted to extend the suspension of
powers by six months, but BAMF and BVA arranged on the terms of the new bill (Deutsche
Welle, 2018).
The latest major change in the regulatory practice of German migration policy was a
return to legislative reforms as part of the recruitment of highly qualified foreign workers. On
20 August, 2019, the Skilled Workers’ Immigration Act (Perma, 2019) and the Act on
Temporary Suspension of Deportation for Training and Employment were published by the
Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Homeland (Perma, 2019). These acts amended
the Residence Act and implemented several European Union directives (e. g., Council
common vision on controlling migration and refugees. This is confirmed in the paragraph,
which says about the complete abolition of any preference in relation to citizenship for “labor
market priority check”. A skilled worker now may not undergo the national vocational test as
long as he/she will provide a domestic certificate or university diploma. The second law also
refers to the aforementioned EU directives, since here the ban on deportation in any form by
the national institutions is already strictly indicated here. The Act on Temporary Suspension
of Deportation for Training and Employment regulates toleration for the purposes of
employment and training, and provides the possibility of receiving a residence permit for two
years after successfully completing vocational training or being employed for 30 months
(Gesley, 2019). Taking into account the changes regarded with the COVID-pandemic, this
period can be extended for a long time, which will further reduce the influence of migration
its own bodies and the EU. Nevertheless, according to the National Integration Plan adopted
in 2007, the German government announced the development of a dialogue with society and
non-governmental organizations, which will be able to present their own expert opinion and
further vision in the regulatory practice evolution of migration policy (BVA, 2007). The
National Integration Plan of 2007 and the National Action Plan for Integration of 2012 were
the first attempts of executive bodies to involve experts and those people for whom it was
actually necessary to develop a feasible migration policy in the dialogue. In 2016, 50 active
migrant organisations gathered to come up with concrete proposals on how to make public
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institutions more diverse. One of the main issues of the last discussion was the absence of
migrant voices and civil society influence when federal bodies are making various decisions
and adopting acts and ordinances (European Commission, 2017). For instance, Refugee
give rise to the following problems for proper integration: the lack of transparency and
accountability in the national migration policy making, the securitization of the migration
challenge by focusing security concerns about the negative sides of new populations to the
host society and integration and the use of research methodologies in investigating migration
related topics from theoretical and expert academic positions (Boswell, 2016).
The main document that many NGOs in Germany operate now with is the one
adopted in the same 2016 Impulspapier der Migrant*Innenorganisationen zur Teilhabe in der
that are involved in migration and integration-specific topics. The members of migrant
organizations usually have migration experience themselves and can therefore help other
people who are new to Germany to settle in in Germany. Tasks and goals, the composition of
the association members and the degree of organization of the migrant organizations can be
very diverse: in addition to religious, cultural or political associations, there are associations
can also consist exclusively of women, mothers, men, fathers, parents, senior citizens or
young people. The offers of the migrant organizations are diverse, including interpreting
services, advice (migration, social, legal), events, cultural offers, courses and trainings, offers
in the field of education, parent education and other integration projects (Berlin.de, 2018)
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This paper reveals the vision of integrated German migrants to revise the approaches
to migration policy in Germany. Of the specific measures, four main goals can be
aspire for diversity participation in the intercultural openness, to provide equal participation
in decision-making functions and in federal services. For these purposes the several NGOs
offered an inclusion of a new state goal in the Basic Law as Art. 20b: “The Federal Republic
equal opportunities and integration of all people, despite race and nation” and “Adoption of a
new joint task within the meaning of Art. 91a GG “Equal participation, equal opportunities
and integration” which ensures that the federal government supports the federal states in the
framework planning and financing of these goals, also in terms of improving living
conditions”. In addition to this, the anti-discrimination agenda was strengthen by the next
introduction of a check of the intercultural opening in legislative processes (IKÖ check); The
bodies for mitigation of racist tendencies. As for results, contributions of this cooperation are
following:
- It provided confidants for ombudsman offices. This lowered the obstacles for concerned
migrants and ensured better communication. They are also able to participate in the process
"group-specified";
- It became stronger service providers in the field of refugee aid or to expand existing
commitments;
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- It tested offers and services for intercultural sensitivity and reports on them (basing on the
Apart from this agenda Bundesnetzwerk TANG - The African Network of Germany,
current migration policy to discuss issues of maintaining a professional level among migrants
and maintain transparency in the adoption of annual quotas. The importance of allocating
funds for training, testing and courses from both federal and regional budgets is emphasized
three-year start-up funding. In 2017, it is to develop an implementation strategy with the aim
administration in proportion to the population share. In this context, Section 5 of the General
Equal Treatment Act (AGG) must be further developed, also to ensure that target quotas are
Generally speaking, the most of these initiatives have not yet been considered by the
federal authorities and, in fact, the legal field was influenced only by the recommendation to
improve conditions for skilled migrant workers and the allocation of budgetary funds from
CONCLUSIONS
since the federal authorities and its accountable operational institutions willingly let NGOs
into dialogue, but at most as experts and practitioners who are faced with a solitary problem
of the system. At the same time, we are able to oversee the growing dependence of the
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German government on the initiatives and directives of the EU and the European
Commission, since each subsequent law adopted in the framework of migration policy was
increasingly linked to the agenda of a supranational institution in Europe. In this regard, the
German federal authorities seem to be trying to maintain a balance between NGOs and
supranational formation, since officials understand that the agenda of the former is too radical
to allow these organizations to take part in real regulatory processes. Meanwhile, the EU
itself is a rather flexible instrument that allows you to gradually reduce the level of radicalism
on the part of NGOs and influence other members of the union in order to more evenly
distribute new migrants. Within the framework of this situation, we understand that the
approach of Grabosky and Tusikov is more competently described the German model than
Black, since the state continues to keep its top position above the social actors and
contemporary acts on a par with transnational entities represented by the European Union.
But despite fairly good progress over the past decade, German legislation, just like the
regulatory practices of German government institutions, did not allow to avoid the negative
influence of the crisis that happened in 2018. We can assume that some of the problems with
this are due to the lack of a genuine fragmentation of the exercise of power and autonomy of
social actors in German society. Apparently, within the framework of the German case,
spontaneity, which inevitably causes certain desires to control the process from below (P.
Grabosky, 2013). As we can see, the regulation of the current migration policy is
characterized by some consistency, but at the same time, it is logical, which pursues not so
much to solve certain problems, but to maintain a certain balance between the actors. This
keeps the state afloat, since NGOs have enough instruments of influence, but do not know
how to use them and whereas it is more profitable for transnational organizations to cooperate
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