Germany: New Immigration Act, 1 Jan 2005

The new Immigration Act will be implemented on 1 January 2005. It is a framework legislation, which will require further bylaws. The new Act is based on a broad political consensus. This consensus came about because, contrary to the original plan and the suggestions of a commission set up in 2000, immigration will not now be actively expanded, but regulated and strictly limited. On the other hand, the right of asylum will be improved and efforts to integrate foreigners markedly stepped up. Since the Federal Government had already reformed the law on citizenship, this means that the overall legal situation of foreign citizens living in the Federal Republic of Germany has been overhauled.

For assignments of less than one year, there is currently no automatic permission for family members to join the employee. However, there is discretion to issue the work authorization to the spouse who joins an employee at a later date. For assignments of more than a year, the partner will be given the same permit as the employee, which will support finding a job. The new law also introduces a special class of knowledge workers, subject to salary level.

A summary of the Immigration Act in English   The full details in German   Summary in German

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