On the draft bill of the Federal Government on the removal of the time limit for the Federal Integration Act : Statement of the IAB on the public hearing in the Committee for Internal Affairs and Community of the German Bundestag on June 3, 2019

Abstract

"The present opinion concerns the public hearing in the Committee for Internal Affairs and Community of the German Bundestag on 3 June 2019 on the Federal Government's draft bill on the removal of the time limit for the Integration Act. In addition to so me selective changes, the bill extends the residency obligation for approved refugees, which has been anchored in the Integration Act since August 2016, for an indefinite time. Due to a time limitation in the Residence Act, this would expire on 6 August 2019. In principle, the residency obligation obliges approved refugees to take up residence for a further three years in the federal state, district or municipality in which the protection status was approved or the residence permit granted for humanitarian reasons. Against the background of the case law of the European Court of Justice, far-reaching interventions in the free movement of persons through residency obligations are only permitted if they promote integration. In principle, residence requirements can influence information and search costs, regional mismatches on the labor market and the composition of immigrants' social networks. A final assessment of these impact mechanisms along various dimensions of integration cannot be presented. However, existing international empirical studies and ongoing analyses by the IAB on the basis of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees indicate negative wage and employment effects as well as no measurable effects with regard to language skills and accommodation in decentralized accommodation. Against this background, an integration-promoting effect of the residency obligation - as advocated by the draft bill - is at least questionable and should be examined in detail before a cancellation of the time limit. From the IAB's point of view, preference should be given to other control instruments that interfere less with the freedom of movement of refugees." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Brücker, H., Jaschke, P. & Gundacker, L. (2019): Zum Gesetzentwurf der Bundesregierung zur Entfristung des Integrationsgesetzes. Stellungnahme des IAB zur Anhörung im Ausschuss für Inneres und Heimat des Deutschen Bundestags am 3. Juni 2019. (IAB-Stellungnahme 08/2019), Nürnberg, 11 p.