What do the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia say on migration and integration?

The AfD wants to restore a clear line between labor immigration and asylum and to gear immigration to the country's own needs. Illegal migration is to be stopped, and everyone required to leave should leave.

The AfD wants to separate asylum from immigration for work. Germany should decide for itself who may come. People who must leave should leave. Well-trained immigrants are welcome.

The AfD demands that NRW press the federal government for more Federal Police along the border with the Netherlands and Belgium. Unauthorized persons would be turned back at Germany's borders without exception.

The AfD wants more Federal Police at the border in the west of NRW. People who may not enter should be turned back there. This should apply with no exceptions. NRW should demand this from the federal government.

The AfD wants to give asylum seekers in-kind benefits instead of cash and pay any remaining cash benefits only via chip cards. Regular work or vocational training would be barred during the asylum procedure and once someone is required to leave. The party says this would remove incentives for migration into the welfare system.

Asylum seekers should get goods instead of money. Any money left should come only on a chip card. They should not be allowed to work during their case. The AfD wants fewer people to come this way.

The AfD wants mandatory medical age assessments for unaccompanied foreign minors whenever their age is in doubt. Their families would be barred from joining them, and at 18 they would move into the asylum procedure without exception.

Some young foreigners arrive without parents. The AfD wants doctors to check their age when there is doubt. Their families should not be allowed to follow. At 18 they should enter the asylum process.

The AfD opposes municipalities or the state voluntarily taking in additional migrants. It considers aid in countries of origin or in safe neighboring states far more effective.

Some cities want to take in more migrants by choice. The AfD is against this. It prefers to help in the home countries. It says this helps more people.

The AfD wants those legally allowed to stay to enter the labor market faster and to be placed immediately in mandatory integration measures. Integration projects would be critically monitored and evaluated for success.

People who may stay should find work quickly. They must take courses right away. There they learn German and the country's values. The AfD wants to check whether integration projects really work.

The AfD wants to eliminate options that, in its view, let rejected asylum seekers prolong their stay. The hardship commission would be abolished, the church asylum agreement terminated, and refugee counseling shifted from independent organizations to state agencies.

The AfD wants to abolish the hardship commission. This body can let rejected people stay. Church asylum should end too. Only the state should advise refugees.

The AfD wants to deport significantly more people and curb Duldung (toleration) permits. To that end, the list of safe countries of origin would be expanded, the central immigration offices strengthened, and toleration permits for training and employment abolished.

The AfD wants to deport more people. Those who must leave should go or be taken back. More countries should count as safe. The offices for deportations should get more staff.

The AfD wants to replace state programs that integrate people required to leave into the labor market with a return program called "Fit4Return." It would train people in occupations needed to rebuild their home countries.

Some people have to leave Germany. The AfD wants to prepare them for going back. They should learn jobs their home country needs. The program is called Fit4Return.

The AfD opposes making dual or multiple citizenship the standard case. Anyone becoming German should, as a rule, continue to give up their previous citizenship so that, in the party's view, no conflicts of loyalty arise.

People who become German should give up their old passport. That should stay the rule. The AfD is against two passports as the normal case. It says loyalty would otherwise be unclear.

The AfD wants to abolish the municipal integration councils and the state integration council and replace them with a different body. It cites low voter turnout and what it sees as growing influence of extremist groups.

Cities have integration councils. Elected people there speak for immigrants. The AfD wants to abolish these councils. A new body should replace them.

The AfD wants to limit immigration to qualified workers and control it tightly. For skilled workers from outside Europe, a model based on Japan's would apply, with a priority check, annual quotas, and a points system.

The AfD wants less immigration and tighter control. Only people with the right training should come. People from Germany and Europe should get jobs first. Anyone who comes must already speak German and have a job offer.

The AfD wants EU free movement understood as free movement of workers and wants to stop immigration into the welfare systems. Welfare entitlements of EU foreigners are to be reduced as far as EU law permits.

EU citizens may live and work in other EU countries. The AfD supports this for workers. But it wants fewer welfare benefits for EU foreigners. Offices should check more strictly who may stay.

The AfD demands a detailed and open accounting of immigration costs as a separate item in the NRW state budget. It argues that reliable figures on the costs of refugee policy are still missing.

The AfD wants to know what immigration costs the state. The state budget should show these costs separately. The AfD says there are no clear numbers so far.

The AfD wants the local housing market to weigh more heavily when asylum seekers and recognized refugees are distributed among municipalities. In cities with a tight market, allocations should drop significantly.

Refugees are distributed among cities and towns. The AfD wants to consider the housing market when doing this. Where housing is scarce, fewer refugees should be sent. The party says this protects local people with little money.

The CDU describes immigration as a benefit for North Rhine-Westphalia and welcomes newcomers. It promises municipalities continued support in taking in refugees, while saying it will not act "naively."

The CDU says immigration is good for the state. People from all over the world are welcome. Cities and towns take in refugees. The state should keep helping them. People who live here should follow the laws and values.

The CDU wants to quickly expel Islamist hate preachers, individuals deemed a security threat, and criminal offenders. All options under immigration and citizenship law are to be used for this.

Some foreigners are a danger to public safety. The CDU wants to remove them from the country quickly. This applies to Islamist hate preachers and offenders. The CDU wants to use all available laws for this.

The CDU wants to attract skilled workers from around the world to North Rhine-Westphalia with a campaign called 'Neue Chancen NRW' (New Opportunities NRW). Foreign vocational qualifications are to be recognized faster and with less red tape. The platform views immigrants as skilled workers who secure economic and social stability.

The CDU wants to bring skilled workers from all over the world to the state. It plans an advertising campaign for this. Foreign job qualifications should be accepted faster. An office in Bonn should help more with this.

The CDU wants to offer protection in North Rhine-Westphalia to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. They are to receive housing, support, medical care and schooling.

The CDU wants to help people from Ukraine. They are fleeing the war. They should get a place to stay and medical help. The children should be able to go to school. Cities and towns will get support from the state.

The FDP wants to consistently deport criminal offenders and people deemed security threats who have no grounds for protection, while securing permanent residency for well-integrated people with tolerated status. Legal routes for immigration are to be opened and irregular migration stopped.

The FDP wants to deport offenders who have no right to protection. People who are well integrated and work should be allowed to stay. There should be more legal ways to come to Germany. The FDP wants to stop unregulated immigration.

The FDP wants to simplify immigration for skilled workers in order to address labor shortages. This includes a Blue Card for non-academic skilled workers as well, a points system with a Chancenkarte (opportunity card), and easier naturalization with multiple citizenship.

North Rhine-Westphalia lacks skilled workers. The FDP wants more skilled workers from abroad to be able to come. There should be a points system for this. Immigrants should also become citizens more easily and may keep two passports.

The FDP wants to continue and expand the state's existing integration policy. People with an immigrant background are to receive tailored services, and the civil service is to open up interculturally.

The FDP wants to give better support to people with immigrant roots. Local offices should work closely together for this. There should be special offers for women and for founders. Public service jobs should be more open to immigrants.

The Greens want to give EU citizens the right to vote in state elections and give long-term residents from non-EU countries the right to vote in local elections. The party also wants to actively promote naturalization and make public institutions more accessible in terms of language.

The Greens want more people to be allowed to vote. People from other EU countries should vote in state elections. People from other countries should vote in their town if they have lived here long. The state should encourage people to become citizens. Public offices should offer more languages and easy-to-read language.

The Greens want to set up a state-level admission program for refugees in particular emergencies. It is meant to back the willingness of many NRW municipalities to take people in; in the party's view, European asylum policy should become more humane.

NRW should be able to take in refugees in need itself. The Greens want a state program for this. Many cities in NRW want to help. The state should work with them. The Greens also support rescuing people in distress at sea.

The Greens reject long stays in state-run accommodation and consider the central accommodation facilities (ZUE) a failure. Refugees are to live in smaller, decentralized housing, with better health care and more money for municipalities.

Refugees should not live in large shelters for long. The Greens want small housing units in many places. People have more peace and privacy there. Children from state shelters should go to regular schools. Cities should get more money for taking people in.

The Greens want to open language courses and integration services to all refugees right away, whatever their status. Immigration offices are to become “welcome authorities” that promote participation and access to the labor market.

All refugees should be able to take language courses right away. This should apply to everyone, whatever their residence status. There should be more childcare during the courses. Immigration offices should help people settle in. They should open ways for tolerated people to stay.

The Greens want deportations to be used only as a last resort and to abolish detention pending deportation in the longer term. They reject on principle deportations to countries at war or in crisis such as Afghanistan and Syria.

The Greens want deportations only as a last step. Detention before deportation should end in the future. Until then, milder measures should be used. No one should be deported to war countries like Afghanistan or Syria. Asylum procedures should be faster and fair.

The SPD wants to create a state admission program for especially vulnerable refugees and internally displaced people. The central accommodation facilities are to be abolished, and refugees are to be housed quickly in decentralized accommodation instead.

The SPD wants the state to have its own admission program. The state would take in refugees who need protection the most. The large central shelters should close. Refugees should quickly live in smaller places in many towns.

The SPD wants refugees to enter the labor market quickly and children to start school promptly. Those who are well integrated and support themselves should get a secure residence status sooner; the party also backs easier family reunification.

Refugees should find work quickly. Children should start school quickly. People who are well integrated and earn their own money should get a secure right to stay sooner. Families should be able to join them more easily. Language classes should be open to all immigrants.

The SPD wants the integration council to be the only municipal body for the political participation of people with an international family background. Its powers, resources and delegation rights are to be fundamentally reformed.

Cities have integration councils. There, people with an immigrant background have a say in local politics. The SPD wants this to be the only body for that purpose. The councils should get more powers and better resources.

The SPD wants to launch a naturalization drive in the state and support the modernization of citizenship law. It sees dual citizenship and simpler naturalization requirements as key steps toward equal participation.

The SPD wants more people to get German citizenship. It plans a naturalization drive for this. People should be allowed to hold two passports. The rules for becoming a citizen should get simpler.