Grüne on migration and integration

The Greens want to ease the path into the Bavarian labor market for workers and skilled professionals from abroad. Foreign qualifications would be recognized more readily, a permanent right to stay would be guaranteed, and Welcome Centers would be set up across the state. The party cites the labor shortage in Bavarian companies as the reason.

Bavaria does not have enough workers. The Greens want to make it easier for people from abroad to work here. Foreign degrees should be accepted more easily. Refugees should be able to work more easily. New advice centers should help with all questions.

The review and recognition of foreign degrees and qualifications is to be improved considerably. A permanent right to stay is meant to give skilled workers and companies planning certainty. Recognized refugees would get easier access to jobs and training, and the general work ban would be scrapped. The planned Welcome Centers would advise newcomers on residence matters, housing, childcare and schools. Companies would get help there with recruiting abroad and with the paperwork for entry and residence permits.

The Greens want people who have lived in Bavaria for some time to be able to vote and run in municipal and district elections even without German citizenship. They also plan an integration unit in the State Chancellery, municipal integration centers and more integration and language courses.

Some people have lived in Bavaria for a long time but have no German passport. They should be allowed to vote in local and district elections. They should also be able to run for office. There should be more language courses and new integration centers.

The platform points out that about one in four people in Bavaria has an immigrant background. Statewide, permanently funded structures for integration and participation would be built at state and local level. Integration and language courses would be expanded quickly so that every new arrival can take part. The party also wants to remove barriers to the job market and improve recognition of foreign qualifications.

The Greens want to make it easier for asylum seekers to work and to scrap work bans. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized faster. The platform argues this eases integration and helps with the shortage of skilled workers and labor.

The Greens want asylum seekers to be allowed to work. Work bans should end. Degrees from other countries should count faster. The party says this helps people and companies.

The platform calls for more spending on retraining and further training. Together with chambers and associations, a training drive in shortage occupations is to start so that people can complete a vocational qualification later in life. The offices that recognize foreign qualifications are to get substantially more staff to clear the backlog. The Greens also want to open up public administration interculturally and specifically promote people with a migration background in the civil service.

The Greens want to gradually convert the AnkER facilities (large combined arrival and return centers) into regular reception centers and house refugees in decentralized accommodation as quickly as possible. Municipalities are to be reimbursed for their actual costs of housing, care and integration. Municipal integration centers are to bring all local services together.

The Greens want to close the AnkER centers. These are large shelters for asylum seekers. Refugees should live in smaller places instead. Towns and cities should get more money from the state. German classes should start quickly.

The state is to cover municipalities' real expenses and provide state-owned buildings for housing; cities in the “Safe Harbors” alliance that take in additional people receive support. The central immigration offices (ZABs) are to be dissolved and their staff and funds moved to municipal immigration offices. The Greens want to change the practice of assigning people to places against their wishes and long stays in mass shelters. Also planned are culturally sensitive medical and psychosocial care, legal advice, a simpler funding system and counseling without a financial contribution from providers. Groups organized by people with a migration background, such as associations and integration councils, are to get more state support.

The Greens do not want to forcibly deport anyone to countries at war or in crisis, and want to cut back deportation detention significantly. Using the federal “Chancen-Aufenthaltsrecht” (opportunity residence law), repeated short-term toleration status is to end. At the federal level the party advocates abolishing deportation detention.

The Greens want no deportations to countries with war or crisis. Fewer people should be locked up before deportation. People with a Duldung should get a secure right to stay. A Duldung means the deportation is only on hold.

The number of people whose toleration status is extended again and again is to fall to zero, with qualified staff for legal and social counseling. Authorities are to use their discretion in favor of those affected. Women are not to be deported to countries where they face gender-based violence; Iran and Afghanistan are named. A law on deportation detention is to reduce its use, and detentions and the building of further facilities are suspended until new rules exist. Every detainee is to get legal counsel and should not have to pay the detention costs.