What do the parties in Berlin say on migration and integration?

The AfD wants to allow immigration only on the basis of qualifications and need, and to treat asylum purely as temporary protection. People with protection status are to be returned as soon as conditions in their home country allow. The platform argues that Germany is not a country of immigration and that asylum is being misused as a route to permanent settlement.

The AfD wants to keep immigration and asylum apart. Only people with needed skills should immigrate. Asylum should be protection for a limited time. After that, people should go back to their country.

The AfD demands that Berlin immediately stop taking in asylum seekers and deport everyone who is required to leave. It pursues a policy of remigration that includes deportations, voluntary return, and agreements with other countries. The platform argues that immigration is overwhelming the city and its welfare systems.

The AfD wants Berlin to stop taking in asylum seekers. People who must leave should be deported right away. The AfD calls this remigration. It means deportations and voluntary return.

The AfD wants asylum seekers to receive only benefits in kind and to eliminate all additional Berlin benefits. Care, counseling, and housing would be limited to the bare essentials. According to the platform, generous benefits and a lack of deportations draw migrants to Berlin.

The AfD does not want to give asylum seekers money anymore. They should only get things like food and clothing. Extra benefits from Berlin should end. The AfD believes fewer people will then come to Berlin.

The AfD opposes building more Modulare Unterkünfte für Flüchtlinge (MUF, modular refugee housing) and wants to convert existing ones into apartments for all Berliners. In the platform's view, such buildings encourage ghettos and tie up housing. Asylum seekers should not get preference in housing allocation.

Berlin builds special housing for refugees. The AfD wants no new buildings of this kind. The existing ones should become normal apartments. Asylum seekers should not get apartments before others.

The AfD wants to put all naturalizations in Berlin on hold until the cases handled by the state immigration office since early 2024 have been checked for forgeries and corruption. Citizenship should come only at the end of successful integration. Dual citizens could lose it if convicted of serious crimes.

The AfD wants to stop naturalizations in Berlin for now. Naturalization means getting German citizenship. First the office should check all cases since 2024. It should look for fraud and fake tests. Dual citizens who commit serious crimes should lose their German passport.

The AfD wants refugee children taught in separate classes, where possible following the curricula of their countries of origin, to support their later return. The platform treats integration as an obligation of immigrants, with penalties for those who refuse. A German Leitkultur (guiding culture) is to be the binding standard for living together.

The AfD wants to teach refugee children in separate classes. They should learn as they would in their home country if possible. That should make returning easier later. People who do not integrate should face penalties.

The CDU wants to fully implement the EU's reformed asylum system (GEAS) and house asylum seekers in central facilities until their claims are decided. The payment card for asylum seekers would stay permanently, and the party wants to act against dubious migration agencies.

The CDU wants faster asylum procedures. Asylum seekers should live in large central shelters. This lasts until a decision is made. The payment card should stay. It replaces cash. Dubious agencies should be stopped.

The CDU wants tougher enforcement of departure orders: more pre-deportation custody places, detention also for people repeatedly under criminal investigation, and deportations year-round even if not all family members are present. Leaking deportation details or helping people evade removal would be punished or lead to loss of funding.

The CDU wants more deportations. More people should be held before removal. Deportations should also happen in winter. They should go ahead even if family members are missing. Leaking deportation dates should be a crime.

The CDU wants stricter handling of naturalization. Only those who accept the democratic constitutional order and Israel's right to exist and meet all legal requirements would be naturalized. Grounds for refusal would be examined carefully and applied consistently.

The CDU wants stricter rules for German citizenship. People must accept democracy. They must also accept Israel's right to exist. All rules must be met. Offices should check carefully.

Through a "Berlin Creative Tech Program for Start-ups," the CDU wants to make it easier for international founders and tech professionals to come to Berlin. Visas are to be issued faster and access to the EU Blue Card widened.

The CDU wants to bring skilled workers from abroad to Berlin. This is about tech and creative jobs. Visas should come faster. More people should get the EU Blue Card. That card lets people work in the EU.

The CDU wants to revise the Partizipationsgesetz (participation law for people with a migration background) passed by the previous red-green-red coalition. In its view, the law conflicts with the Basic Law, under which public-sector hiring may be based only on aptitude, performance and qualifications.

Berlin has a law to include migrants more. It is called the participation law. The CDU wants to change it. It says public jobs should depend only on skills. Where someone comes from should not count.

The CDU wants to restrict access to social benefits for citizens of other EU countries and backs a recommendation of the welfare reform commission to that end. For EU citizens stranded in Berlin without prospects, it relies on return programs.

Some people from other EU countries live in Berlin without work or a home. The CDU wants to help them go back. They should get fewer social benefits. The rules on moving within the EU should be checked more strictly.

The CDU wants integration to follow the principle of support and obligation: more job-related language courses and state integration centers in every district, but also mandatory participation. In its view, anyone who wants to live in Berlin must learn German and actively integrate.

The CDU wants to help immigrants. But it also expects effort from them. Immigrants should learn German. Every district should get an integration center. There they find courses and advice.

The CDU rejects housing refugees in gyms and other public facilities. As long as their residence status is unresolved, they are to live centrally in large accommodation centers.

The CDU does not want refugees living in sports halls. The halls should stay free for sports and school. Refugees should live in large shelters. This applies until it is clear if they can stay.

The CDU wants to support international skilled workers and Berlin businesses with recruitment and integration and to speed up recognition of foreign vocational qualifications. At the same time, it wants to crack down on dubious recruitment agents.

Berlin needs skilled workers from abroad. The CDU wants to help them. Their degrees should be recognized faster. The CDU wants to stop dishonest job agents.

The CDU requires those seeking citizenship to clearly commit to Germany and its values. Naturalization should be revocable if false information was given, and documents are to be checked rigorously.

Some people want to become German citizens. The CDU says they must clearly support Germany. People who lie should be able to lose their citizenship again.

The Greens want people who have fled war and persecution to be able to settle in Berlin for good. Berlin should advocate a migration and asylum policy that the platform calls humanitarian and reasonable. Human rights are to be the benchmark.

Some people flee from war or persecution. The Greens want these people to find a new home in Berlin. Human rights should guide this policy.

The Greens want to recruit international skilled workers and graduates, especially from the tech sector. The party has in mind people looking for jobs elsewhere because of tighter US visa rules. A program is to support them in settling in Berlin.

Berlin needs more skilled workers. The Greens want to bring well-trained people from abroad. Many now find it hard to get a US visa. A program should help them get started in Berlin. Their degrees should be recognized more easily.

The Greens want to press at the federal level for asylum seekers to be allowed to work from their first day. Family members of skilled workers are to be able to enter without proving language skills beforehand and learn German afterward.

Asylum seekers should be allowed to work right away. The Greens want to push for this at the federal level. Skilled workers should be able to bring their family at once. The family does not have to pass a language test first. They learn German after arrival in free courses.

The Greens want trainees and skilled workers from abroad to be recruited through vetted, fair and safe procedures. The platform intends to take action against questionable practices by private placement agencies and against exploitation and human trafficking.

Berlin recruits skilled workers and trainees from abroad. The Greens want fair rules for this. Private agencies should not take advantage of anyone. Trainees from abroad should get the same pay. They should learn about their rights early and in their own language.

The Greens want to expand psychological and psychosocial support for refugees and make it easy to access. The platform argues that many of them have lived through war, violence or persecution and that mental health is a precondition for participation, education and integration.

Many refugees have lived through war and violence. The Greens want to give them more mental health support. The support should be easy to get. It should be offered in several languages.

The Greens want to open the way into work, vocational training and qualification for refugees from the start. Work permits are to be issued faster and foreign vocational qualifications recognized more quickly, because the platform sees employment as a precondition for self-determination and social security.

Refugees should be able to work or start training quickly. The Greens want less red tape for this. Degrees from other countries should be accepted faster. Companies should get help when they hire refugees.

The Greens reject the payment card for refugees planned by the Berlin Senate because, in the platform's view, it discriminates against them and limits their self-determination. Instead, benefits are to be paid out without red tape, and everyone should be able to get a bank account. At the federal level, the party wants to abolish the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz (Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act).

The Berlin government plans a payment card for refugees. The Greens are against it. They think the card is unfair. Refugees should simply get their money paid out. Everyone should be able to have a bank account.

The Greens want to house refugees primarily in their own apartments and otherwise in smaller shelters across all districts instead of large facilities. Citing the Tegel site, the platform says such facilities did not meet people's needs. A housing law is to set minimum standards.

Refugees should live in their own apartments if possible. If not, they should live in small shelters. The Greens do not want very large shelters anymore. A new law should set rules for good shelters.

The Greens want to develop Berlin's Landesamt für Einwanderung (State Office for Immigration, LEA) into a service-oriented agency. Applications are to be filed digitally and processed quickly, because the platform says delays can cost people their job or their home.

The State Office for Immigration decides on residence papers. The Greens want the office to work faster and be friendlier. People should be able to apply online. It should be easier to get an appointment.

The Greens want to apply the new rules of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) in Berlin in a way that upholds human rights. Independent monitoring is to prevent refugee protection from being weakened further during implementation.

The EU has agreed on new rules for asylum. The Greens want to apply these rules humanely in Berlin. An independent body should check this. The police should not stop people because of how they look.

The Greens want to allow deportations only in exceptional cases and to end deportations to crisis and conflict regions. They reject detention pending deportation, the separation of families, and the concept of safe third countries and safe countries of origin. Anyone found to have no right to stay should leave promptly, preferably voluntarily.

The Greens want to deport people only rarely. Nobody should be sent to war zones. Nobody should be locked up for this. Families should stay together. People with no right to stay should leave, ideally by choice.

The Greens want unaccompanied minor refugees to have an independent representative from the day they arrive. The child's best interests are to take priority at all times, and the young people are to live in facilities with trained educational staff.

Some children and teenagers flee without their parents. The Greens want them to get a representative right away. This person helps them with legal matters. The children should live in youth welfare homes.

The Greens want to restart Berlin's state admission program for refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and expand the federal humanitarian admission programs. Family reunification is to become possible again; the platform calls it a humanitarian minimum.

Berlin should again take in refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Germany as a whole should also take in more people in need. Families of refugees should be allowed to join them again. The Greens also want to take in people fleeing climate disasters.

The Greens want to give financial support to civilian sea rescue organizations in the Mediterranean. The platform argues that thousands of people drown there every year while fleeing and that the federal government has stopped its funding.

Many people drown in the Mediterranean Sea while fleeing. Private groups rescue people from the sea. The Greens want to give these groups money. In the Bundesrat they want to vote to protect the rescuers.

The Greens want refugee children and teens to get stable housing quickly and be admitted to daycare and school. Where possible, they should not live in shared shelters. Volunteer guardianships for unaccompanied minors would receive funding.

Refugee children should get a safe home quickly. They should not live in large shelters if possible. They should start daycare and school soon. Some children arrive without parents. The party wants more volunteer guardians for them. A guardian looks after the child's rights.

The Greens want to hire research staff with expert knowledge of countries of origin at the administrative court. The platform argues that wrong asylum decisions can have severe and irreversible consequences for those affected. The party regards the right to asylum and the protection of human rights as inviolable.

Courts decide whether a person gets asylum. The Greens want to hire experts at the court for this. These experts know the situation in the home countries well. They help the judges. This should lead to fewer wrong decisions.

The Left wants to expand counseling and support for foreign workers, who according to the platform are exploited especially often. Foreign vocational qualifications are to be recognized faster, and refugees are to gain easier access to jobs.

Many workers from abroad are taken advantage of at work. The Left wants more advice services for them. Job qualifications from abroad should be accepted faster. Refugees should be able to work more easily. There should be more language classes alongside work.

The Left wants immigrant and refugee children to be able to attend school from their first day in Berlin. More Willkommensklassen (welcome classes) are to be created for this. The party rejects teaching these children separately inside shared refugee housing.

Some children are new in Berlin. The Left wants them to go to school right away. For this, there should be more welcome classes. These are classes for children who are still learning German. The Left does not want lessons inside refugee housing.

The Left wants refugee children and teenagers to have the same legal standing as other young people. They are to get immediate, low-bureaucracy access to psychosocial help and trauma therapy. The platform argues that help today often arrives only once a crisis has become acute.

The Left wants equal rights for refugee children and teenagers. They should get mental health support quickly. This includes therapy after terrible experiences. There should be enough places to live for refugee children without parents.

The Left wants everyone in Berlin to receive social services, health care, and housing, even without valid papers. A Berlin city ID card would make this possible and turn Berlin into a place of refuge within the Solidarity Cities network.

Some people in Berlin have no valid papers. They cannot get health insurance. The Left wants them to be able to see a doctor and have a place to stay. A Berlin city ID card should make this possible.

The Left wants to enable more naturalizations and end the backlog of pending applications. To do so, the state should use its legal leeway and allow applications to be filed offline as well.

The Left wants more people to get a German passport. Many applications are still waiting. That should stop. People should also be able to apply on paper.

The Left wants to add a fixed quota to the Partizipationsgesetz (participation act) so that people with a migration background are hired and promoted more often in the public sector. The stated reason is that the administration does not reflect Berlin's population.

Few people with a migration background work in Berlin's public offices. The Left wants to change that. There should be a fixed quota. A quota is a required share.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for repealing the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz (Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act) so that refugees receive the same basic support as everyone else. The payment card is not to be introduced in Berlin, or is to be withdrawn.

Refugees now get less money than other people in need. The Left wants to change that. Everyone should get the same help. The Left does not want the payment card for refugees.

The Left rejects deportations in principle and wants to legalize people without secure status through a cutoff-date rule. Berlin is to use all of its own legal options for this, including temporary deportation freezes.

The Left does not want deportations. People without secure status should be allowed to stay. A new federal law should make this possible. Berlin should pause deportations for a time.

The Left wants Berlin to take in people from war and crisis regions through its own admission programs, above all especially vulnerable people and relatives of Berliners. This is meant to live up to the city's claim to be a "safe harbor."

Berlin should take in people from war zones. The city should have its own programs for this. Relatives of Berliners should be able to come. People in great danger should also get in safely.

The Left wants to take the State Office for Immigration out from under the supervision of the interior department. In the platform's view, the current setup encourages a security-focused view of flight and migration, which should be replaced by a humanitarian and social-policy approach.

The immigration office now belongs to the interior department. That department mainly deals with security. The Left wants to change this. The office should focus more on help and social needs.

The Left wants refugees to be able to work and take up vocational training regardless of their residence status. The Ausbildungsduldung (toleration during training) is to be extended to further activities so that people have time to choose a career.

Refugees should be allowed to work and train for a job. Their residence status should not matter. A language course or internship should also protect them from deportation. There should be more free language courses.

The Left wants refugees to receive the same medical care as everyone else in Berlin and their children to attend regular schools. Especially vulnerable people are to be identified and supported from the start.

Refugees should be able to see a doctor like everyone else. Their children should go to normal schools. The Left rejects separate schools only for refugees. People at special risk should get help right away.

The Left wants to found a state enterprise for social housing and write minimum standards for shelters for refugees and homeless people into law. The obligation to live in a shelter during the asylum procedure is to be dropped.

A new city-owned operator should create shelters. A law should say how good shelters must be at least. Every district should provide places. Asylum seekers should no longer have to live in a shelter.

The Left wants shelters for refugees and homeless people to be awarded mainly on quality and to operators that do not work for profit. In the long run, a public social enterprise is to bring accommodation under municipal control. The federal government is to share the costs through a per-person flat payment.

The Left wants better shelters for refugees and homeless people. The operators should not be out to make a profit. Later the city should run the shelters itself. The federal government should pay money for each person.

The SPD stands by the individual right to asylum and wants to implement the EU asylum system (CEAS) in line with human rights. Berlin should be able to admit especially vulnerable people through its own state admission programs. People without a claim to protection are also to get paths to integration; for returns, the party relies on voluntary departure.

The SPD wants to keep the right to asylum. Berlin should be allowed to take in people at special risk. People without a right to protection should also get a chance to stay. People who must leave should get help to return by choice. Serious offenders with no right to stay should be deported first.

Citing the skilled-labor shortage and an aging society, the SPD wants to keep enabling labor migration. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized more simply and quickly. Refugees should be able to support themselves soon after arriving.

Berlin lacks skilled workers. So the SPD wants to bring in workers from abroad. Degrees from other countries should count faster. Refugees should be allowed to work sooner.

The SPD wants to naturalize more Berlin residents with a migration background so they can take part in democratic decisions. The naturalization center is to continue, and a campaign is to address everyone who is eligible to apply.

Many people in Berlin have no German passport. Many of them could apply for one. The SPD wants to reach these people. More people should become German citizens and be able to vote.

The SPD wants to stop housing refugees in emergency shelters and move to decentralized housing. All districts are to contribute a fair share. The party rejects secondary migration centers and curfews for refugees.

Refugees should no longer live in large emergency shelters. They should live in homes all over the city. Every district should help. The SPD does not want curfews for refugees.

The SPD wants to broaden services for immigrants and refugees. The Welcome Center is to become the central multilingual point of contact, and language mediation is to be available at all public offices. German courses and the integration guides program are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to make arriving easier for people from abroad. There will be one central place for help in many languages. Public offices will offer translation. There will be more German courses.

The SPD rejects a Bezahlkarte (payment card) for refugees because, in its view, it severely limits participation in public life. Instead, it wants to push at the federal level for the conditions needed for a Berlin city ID. The ID is meant to give undocumented people access to basic services.

The SPD does not want a payment card for refugees. It says the card shuts people out of city life. The SPD wants a city ID for Berlin instead. With it, people without papers could also see a doctor or go to school.