SPD on migration and integration

The SPD wants EU citizens who live permanently in Thuringia to be able to vote in state and federal elections as well. People from non-EU countries with permanent residence are to be given the right to vote in local elections.

Many people without a German passport have lived in Thuringia for a long time. The SPD wants to give them more voting rights. People from EU countries should vote for the state and federal parliament. People from other countries should be allowed to vote in their town or city.

The plan is tied to the SPD's goal of achieving equal political, economic and social participation. The party wants to push for voting rights for EU citizens at the state and federal level. The right to vote in local elections is to be extended to nationals of third countries, provided they live in the state permanently.

The SPD sees immigration as an opportunity to counter demographic change and the shortage of skilled workers. It wants to ease refugees' path into work, make it easier to recognize foreign qualifications, and speed up procedures together with the federal government.

The SPD says: immigration helps Thuringia because workers are missing. Refugees should be allowed to work more easily. There should be more language courses for jobs. Degrees from abroad should be recognized more easily. People who need protection should get asylum in Thuringia.

A training program for foreign skilled workers with individual support and language courses is planned. The SPD welcomes that the labor market has been opened to vocationally qualified people from non-EU countries and that switching from the asylum track to labor migration is possible. Local foreigners' advisory councils and migrant organizations are to continue receiving support. Public administration and educational institutions are to open up further interculturally, and Thuringia's integration concept is to be updated. Thuringia is to keep taking in people from war and crisis regions.

The SPD wants language courses, integration and training programs to be available to all immigrants, regardless of their country of origin or their prospects of being allowed to stay. The platform sees language as the precondition for taking part in society. It also wants simpler handling of family reunification and easier work permits for people with tolerated status.

The SPD wants language courses for all immigrants. It should not matter where someone comes from. It should not matter if someone may stay. People with tolerated status should get work permits more easily. Families should be able to join them more easily.

The state program "Start Deutsch" is to be expanded and the directive on social support for refugees updated. One focus is on children and young people, who are to receive early and individual support so that disadvantages do not arise. Through targeted outreach, the SPD wants to recruit more teachers and childcare staff with a migration background. A funding program is planned for integration in neighborhoods, and civic engagement by immigrants is to be strengthened. On family reunification, the aim is a simpler procedure for applying the federal rules.

The SPD commits to the humanitarian reception of refugees in Thuringia and wants binding minimum standards for shelters that apply statewide. Everyone is to be treated fairly and with dignity, regardless of their chances in the asylum process.

The SPD wants Thuringia to take in refugees. Everyone should be treated fairly. Shelters should follow the same rules everywhere. The rules should make sure people live in dignity. Sick and very vulnerable people should get special help.

The minimum requirements are to apply to reception centers and shared accommodation. The psychosocial counseling center refugio e.V. is to receive ongoing state funding so that traumatized refugees can get help that the regular system does not offer. For especially vulnerable people such as unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, single parents and the seriously ill, the SPD wants to keep the existing support structures. These are to be reviewed against current and expected need and adjusted.

The SPD wants to create a state office for migration and integration that brings expertise together in one place. According to the platform, this should also help attract skilled workers to the labor market. Municipal immigration offices are to become integration and service agencies.

The SPD wants a new office for migration and integration. The expert knowledge should be in one place. This should also help find skilled workers. Local immigration offices should offer more service. They should help people settle in.

The new state office is to pool competencies so that, in the SPD's view, migration and integration can be managed successfully. The platform names attracting skilled workers as a desired effect. Municipalities are seen as the place where integration succeeds. The state wants to support them in turning their immigration offices into integration agencies and service institutions.

The SPD wants to coordinate the recruitment of skilled workers from abroad through one central body and will develop the Thuringian agency for skilled-worker recruitment for this purpose. Qualifications are to be recognized more easily. State subsidies for recruitment are to go only to companies with a collective agreement and integration programs.

Thuringia needs more skilled workers. The SPD wants to bring in skilled workers from abroad. One central office should organize this. Foreign degrees should be accepted more easily. Only companies with a collective wage agreement get state money.

Recognition of school and vocational qualifications is to become simpler through less red tape, as is entry via career-change routes. The SPD backs the pilot project of a German Professional School that prepares young people from non-EU countries for training and life in Germany within a year and places them with companies. All immigrants are to be offered a language and integration course and supported until they start work. Projects against discrimination in the workplace are to be funded. Subsidized companies must offer their workforce mandatory integration measures.

The SPD wants to simplify the rules on entry, residence and registration for students and researchers from abroad, including through federal initiatives. Graduates are to get more time after finishing their degree to find a job or take the next step in their academic qualification.

The SPD wants to make things easier for students from other countries. This also applies to researchers. The rules for entering and staying should become simpler. After graduating, they should have more time to look for work.

The simplification is also to be achieved through initiatives at the federal level. Public offices should have contact persons who speak English; the program calls this part of a welcoming culture. Residence law is to be reformed so that graduates and people with a doctorate get more time after their degree to start a job or move on to the next academic stage.