What do the parties in Lower Saxony say on migration and integration?

The AfD wants to steer where migrants settle, following the Danish model. It holds immigration partly responsible for the housing shortage and demands that German citizens also gain access to affordable housing.

Lower Saxony lacks housing, and rents are rising. The AfD says immigration makes the problem bigger. It wants to steer where migrants move, as Denmark does. German citizens should find an affordable home more easily.

The AfD wants to stop granting full social benefits to foreigners who are required to leave the country and give them only in-kind benefits. It also wants to limit immigration of EU citizens into the welfare system.

Some foreigners have to leave Germany. The AfD wants them to get no more money from the state. They should only get things like food and clothes. People from EU countries should also find it harder to get welfare.

The AfD calls for ending current immigration policy and states that Germany and Lower Saxony are not countries of immigration. It justifies this with protecting national identity and with costs for the welfare system.

The AfD wants to stop immigration. It says Germany is not a country of immigration. The AfD sees German identity in danger. It also says many immigrants live on welfare.

The AfD wants permanent controls at Germany's borders to prevent unauthorized entry. It considers admitting asylum seekers who arrive via safe third countries to be unconstitutional.

The AfD wants constant checks at German borders. This should stop people from entering without permission. The AfD says people who come through a safe country have no right to asylum. Germany should fully control immigration again.

The AfD wants to consistently deport people without a right to stay and also return recognized asylum seekers once conditions in their home country ease. Detention pending deportation would last until departure, and cash benefits and integration programs for this group would end.

The AfD wants to deport more people. People with no right to stay should leave. They should get no more money. They should stay in detention until they leave. Recognized refugees should also go home later.

The AfD wants to reduce incentives for immigration that it sees in benefits for asylum seekers. It wants to change the rule that recognized asylum seekers are immediately treated equally in all welfare systems without having paid in.

The AfD thinks benefits for asylum seekers are too high. It says this draws people to Germany. Recognized refugees get all welfare benefits right away. The AfD wants to change that.

The CDU wants to recruit skilled workers abroad, arguing that the gap left by retiring baby boomers cannot be closed otherwise. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized more easily, and refugees are to be brought into work more effectively.

Lower Saxony lacks skilled workers. The CDU wants to bring skilled workers from other countries. Foreign degrees should count more easily. Refugees should also find work more easily.

The CDU wants to make the state reception authority the central body for deportations, relieving local immigration offices. It argues that overlapping responsibilities and a lack of expertise have sometimes prevented removals so far.

The CDU wants one office to handle deportations. The state reception authority would take this over. Local immigration offices would then have less work with it. The CDU says too many offices are in charge today.

The CDU wants to introduce a residence requirement in initial reception centers and distribute asylum seekers to municipalities only if they have good prospects of staying. Reading out mobile devices to clarify identity and origin would become standard procedure.

The CDU wants stricter rules for asylum seekers. They would have to stay in the first reception center. Only people with good chances of staying would move to a town. Authorities would routinely read out cell phones. This is meant to clarify identity and origin.

The CDU wants an integration law that gives immigrants a right to integration services while making participation mandatory. It expects everyone living in Germany to commit to the values of the Basic Law, the German constitution.

The CDU wants a new law on integration. Immigrants should get a right to help, such as courses. But then they must also take part. Everyone should respect the values of the German constitution. There should be integration centers in the regions.

The CDU wants to conclude personal integration agreements with immigrants that combine support with required efforts of their own. Learning German and earning one's own living are to be fixed parts of integration. Language support is to be expanded at the same time.

The CDU wants to make single agreements with immigrants. These list the steps toward integration. People should get help, but they must also do their part. They should learn German and earn their own money.

The Greens want to make SPRINT, a language and integration project for young refugees, a permanent part of vocational schools. In addition, trainees from foster families or children's homes would no longer have to hand over part of their income for their care.

The Greens want to help young refugees get into job training. The SPRINT project helps them learn German. It should become a fixed part of vocational schools. Trainees from foster families or homes should keep their pay.

The Greens want to make Lower Saxony a "safe harbor" for people fleeing hardship, violence and war. To do so, the state's former admission program is to be restarted. States should in future be able to adopt such programs without approval from the Federal Interior Ministry.

The Greens want to take in more people in need. Lower Saxony once had its own program for this. That program should start again. Cities and counties should be allowed to take in extra refugees. The state should help them.

The Greens want newly arrived refugees to be housed quickly in decentralized accommodation and offered counseling and language courses early on. They should stay in initial reception centers for no more than three months. Shelters are to meet high minimum standards that are checked independently.

Refugees should not live long in large reception centers. They should stay there three months at most. After that they should live in towns and cities. They should quickly get language courses and advice. Independent inspectors should check the shelters.

The Greens want to protect unaccompanied minor refugees through binding admission rules based on child welfare and youth welfare law. The party rejects deporting young people who fall under youth welfare law. Young refugees should find it easier to earn school diplomas.

Some children and teenagers flee without their parents. The Greens want to protect them better. The child's well-being should always come first. These young people should not be deported. They should attend regular schools and be able to catch up on diplomas.

The Greens want deportations to take place only as an exception and after a thorough review of each case. They call for a general halt to deportations to war and crisis zones and reject the concept of safe countries of origin. The party considers pre-deportation detention disproportionate as a rule.

The Greens want far fewer deportations. Each case should be checked carefully. Nobody should be deported to a country at war. The Greens reject the list of safe countries of origin. They think detention before deportation is usually wrong.

The Greens want to remove barriers to participation and a political voice for immigrants. A new law is to secure access to education, work and political involvement, and immigration offices are to become "welcome offices." Migrant counseling is to be funded permanently as a statutory state service.

The Greens see Lower Saxony as a state of immigration. Immigrants should find it easier to take part and have a say. A new law is planned for this. Immigration offices should become friendlier and more helpful. Advice services for immigrants should get lasting state money.

The Greens want a campaign to encourage more people to become citizens and will push at the federal level for further easing. In addition, everyone who has lived in Germany for at least three years should be able to vote in local elections, regardless of nationality.

The Greens want more people to get a German passport. They plan a campaign for this. The path to citizenship should become easier. People without a German passport should also vote in their town. They must have lived in Germany for three years.

The Greens want to end so-called Kettenduldungen in Lower Saxony, meaning repeatedly renewed tolerated stays without secure status. People who have lived this way, some for many years, are to get a path to a permanent right to stay.

Some people have lived in Germany for years with only a tolerated stay. That means they may stay for now, but without a secure right. The Greens want to end this. These people should be allowed to stay for good.

The Greens want a state program that lets threatened human rights activists and politically persecuted people stay in Lower Saxony for a limited time. Scholarships would fund this respite.

Some people fight for human rights in their country. They are threatened for it. The Greens want to give them shelter in Lower Saxony for a while. They would get a scholarship, which is money to live on.

The SPD wants to work with the federal government to ease regular immigration, especially for workers and skilled professionals, and to grant asylum to those in need of protection. People with no prospect of asylum are to get help with voluntary departure; deportations required by law are to be as humane as possible.

The SPD wants people to be able to immigrate legally more easily. This applies above all to skilled workers. People who need protection should get asylum. People who cannot stay get help to leave voluntarily. Serious criminals should be deported first.

The SPD wants to offer integration courses to all newcomers from the start and give children and young people quick access to education. Migration counseling is to be funded permanently and adequately because the party sees it as indispensable locally for integration and participation.

All newcomers should be able to take integration courses right away. Children and young people should get into school quickly. Counseling for immigrants should get enough money permanently. The SPD sees this counseling as very important.