PdF on migration and integration

The PdF wants to make it easier for qualified skilled workers from abroad to enter the German labor market. A simpler procedure is meant to attract workers in a targeted way without relying on large-scale recruitment.

The PdF wants skilled workers from abroad to come more easily. The process should be simpler. But the party does not want very large recruitment drives. Home countries should not lose all their skilled workers.

The platform calls for a simplified immigration procedure for qualified workers. It rejects mass recruitment so that countries of origin do not lose their skilled workers. The party sees this as a safeguard against what it calls modern forms of colonialism. The measure is part of a broader strategy against the skills shortage that also includes support for vocational training, further education and attractive working conditions.

The PdF wants refugees to receive a work permit within ten days at most and to be placed in jobs as a priority. Language courses and the recognition of foreign qualifications are to be better aligned with this. According to the platform, this would speed up integration and relieve the welfare system.

Refugees should be allowed to work quickly. The permit should take 10 days at most. Language courses should take place outside working hours. Foreign qualifications should be accepted more easily.

According to the platform, a work permit for refugees currently takes up to 22 months. A uniform, digital procedure is meant to cut this to ten days, following Finland's example. Language courses outside working hours are meant to allow employment and language learning at the same time. Qualifications from non-EU countries are to be recognized more easily, and work experience is to count toward training. Revoking residence status later is to remain possible even if the person has taken up work.

The PdF wants to set up migration centers in safe third countries where asylum procedures take place outside Europe. This is meant to make procedures orderly and spare people seeking protection dangerous smuggling routes.

The PdF wants centers in safe countries outside Europe. People should apply for asylum there. Asylum means protection for persecuted people. Then they would not need dangerous routes with smugglers.

The centers are to be located in the regions people come from. According to the platform, humane standards are to apply there. The PdF justifies the plan by pointing to slow asylum procedures, smuggling networks and illegal immigration routes.

The PdF calls for a European asylum system based on solidarity that distributes asylum seekers across all EU states and supports countries at the external borders through a joint fund. At the same time, the external borders are to be monitored effectively and smugglers pursued across Europe.

All EU countries should take in asylum seekers. A shared fund should help countries at the EU border. The EU should watch its outer borders better. The countries should act together against smugglers.

Every member state is to take part in the distribution. For the PdF, this also includes improving returns after rejected asylum applications. The platform treats protection of the external borders as a precondition for free movement in the Schengen area; existing laws against illegal migration are to be fully applied and backed by modern technology. Coordinated European measures in law enforcement are planned against smuggling networks. Human dignity and international standards are to keep priority.

The PdF wants to make social benefits for people seeking protection partly dependent on how far their integration has progressed. In addition, asylum seekers are to explicitly accept the basic values of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) when they apply.

Refugees should make an effort to integrate. Part of their benefits should depend on that. Language courses are one example. When applying for asylum, they should accept the values of the German constitution.

As yardsticks, the platform names attending and completing integration and language courses, a school diploma and taking part in job center programs. The values to be accepted include gender equality, the ban on forced marriage, religious freedom and the right to education. Course providers and authorities are to coordinate more closely to better gauge willingness to integrate. The PdF says this is meant to promote personal responsibility.

The PdF wants refugees to lose their right of residence if they commit crimes in Germany. It also stresses that asylum is in principle only temporary and ends when the reasons for fleeing no longer apply.

A refugee who commits a crime should not be allowed to stay. Asylum should only last for a certain time. Protection ends when the reasons for fleeing are gone. Then people should return home.

According to the platform, losing the right of residence is meant to make clear that people seeking protection must respect the laws of the host country. On protection status, the PdF wants to stick with existing law, under which asylum is limited in time. Protection is to end when the causes of flight no longer exist and a return to the country of origin is possible.