SPD on migration and integration

The SPD calls for consistently granting tolerated-stay permits for training and for giving young people a permanent residence title once they pass their interim exam. This is meant to give them security. Residence status should not stand in the way of training.

Some young people from abroad may only stay for their training. The SPD wants to give them more security. If they pass the mid-term exam, they should be allowed to stay for good. Their residence status should not stop them from training.

The Ausbildungsduldung is a rule that lets people without secure residence stay for the length of an apprenticeship. The SPD wants these permits to be granted consistently. In addition, passing the interim exam would lead to a permanent right of residence. Training should also be open to young immigrants from non-EU countries.

The SPD encourages people who meet the requirements to become citizens. At the federal level it wants to back the planned simplification of naturalization for long-term residents, and in Bremen it wants applications processed promptly.

Many people have lived in Bremen for a long time but have no German passport. The SPD wants it to be easier for them to become German. Bremen should keep promoting this. The offices should handle applications quickly.

The program justifies this with the goal of a shared sense of belonging in a democratic and pluralistic society. At the federal level, the SPD wants to support the plan from the governing coalition's agreement to simplify naturalization for migrants who have lived in Germany for many years. Bremen's naturalization campaign is to continue. The party also promotes participation in neighborhoods regardless of legal status.

The SPD wants differences in residence status to restrict access to language courses, training, work and choice of housing less than they do now. The opportunities given to refugees from Ukraine should also be open to other refugees.

Refugees from Ukraine may work and take courses quickly. Other refugees often face stricter rules. The SPD wants all refugees to get these opportunities. Nobody should live for many years with only a temporary permission to stay.

In the program's view, legal differences in residence status are hard to explain and harm social peace. Entitlements to language courses, training, work, qualification programs and the choice of housing are therefore to be opened up. Counseling services in neighborhoods should be available to all groups regardless of origin or legal status. The simplified procedures for Ukrainian refugees are to be evaluated and applied to other groups. The SPD wants to avoid chains of repeatedly renewed toleration permits (Kettenduldungen).

The SPD commits to granting protection and asylum to people who are fleeing. Refugees should quickly get access to school, daycare, language courses and work, and be able to move from shared shelters into their own homes.

The SPD wants to protect people who are fleeing. Children should go to daycare and school quickly. Adults should learn German and find work. Refugees should be able to move from shared shelters into their own homes.

The program points to the reception of refugees around 2015 and of people from Ukraine. Besides housing and basic care, it lists German-language offers and help with entering training and work. Moving into private housing is to be encouraged. Networks of professional and volunteer helpers are meant to make arrival easier.

Everyone with an immigration background in Bremen and Bremerhaven should have the chance to learn German in a course. The SPD therefore wants to continue the municipal language courses alongside those offered by the federal government.

All immigrants should be able to learn German. The federal government offers German courses. Bremen offers its own courses too. The SPD wants to keep these courses. There should also be special courses for women.

The courses are to take specific target groups into account. Easily accessible offers for women such as "Mama lernt Deutsch" (Mom learns German) are to stay and grow where needed. The SPD wants to strengthen established projects and set up more. New integration offers are also to be created for new groups of immigrants.

The SPD wants to keep advising, connecting and strengthening migrant organizations. It also backs the recognition of Islamic religious communities as corporations under public law.

Bremen has many associations run by immigrants. The SPD wants to keep advising and supporting them. Islamic communities want a special legal recognition. The churches already have it. The SPD supports this wish.

The program describes migrant organizations as partners and go-betweens for their communities. The SPD considers the advice currently provided through the "House of Ressources" program necessary even after that program ends. Participation is to be strengthened through the communities, including access to funding programs. The neighborhood programs "Ankommen im Quartier" and "Unterstützung im Quartier" are to get a sharper profile and combine common standards with the needs of individual districts.

Citing the need for skilled workers, the SPD wants to make greater use of immigration into the labor market. Foreign professional qualifications are to be recognized more simply and quickly, and the migration office is to get more staff.

Bremen lacks skilled workers. So the SPD wants more people to immigrate for work. Job qualifications from abroad should be recognized faster. The offices in charge should get more staff.

The SPD welcomes the reform of the Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz (skilled immigration act) and the federal Chancen-Aufenthaltsgesetz (opportunity residence act). To implement both laws well, the Bremen migration office is to be reinforced. The bodies that recognize foreign qualifications are also to get more staff. The party wants to review whether the simplified procedures for Ukrainian refugees can be applied to other groups.