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Integration in Germany. Berlin, 16 April 2013. Integration is a Federal Government priority This concerns a great number of policy areas; lead: Federal Ministry of the Interior What does integration mean? → Equal opportunities and participation Who are the addressees?
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Integration in Germany Berlin, 16 April 2013
Integration is a Federal Government priority This concerns a great number of policy areas; lead: Federal Ministry of the Interior • What does integration mean? → Equal opportunities and participation • Who are the addressees? → Immigrants who are legal residents and are likely to stay in Germany for the long term, irrespective of their national or ethnic origin
What is the Federal Government's role? → primarily, legislative → requires specific conditions to be met: no immigration without integration. → on the principle of providing support but asking for more effort in return.
Key to integration: German language skills • Anchor measure: Integration coursescarried out by approx. 1,500 course providers across Germany → 600 hours of language instruction + 60 hours of orientation course Aim: Language level B 1 and familiarization with life in Germany → The Federal Government has spent more than 1 billion euros on these courses since their introduction in 2005. In 2013: € 209 million
Integration courses - trends→ since 2005, more than 1.13 million immigrants were entitled to take part; approx. 480,000 immigrants were required to take part approx. 530,000 participants have successfully completed courses→ since 2005, a total number of 855,000 have attended→ at present, there are roughly 95,000 new participants per year→ overall: number of participants is decreasing; however, the number of EU citizens attending such courses is growing; In 2012: over 20 000 EU citizens
Accompanying measures • Advising for adult immigrants;Migration advising for adult immigrants (MBE) offered during and after participation in the course→ 2013: 25.7 million euros were spent on MBE • Project funding: Measures aiming at the social integration of immigrants at the local level→ 2013: 16.7 million euros were spent on projects→ The focus is on neighbourhood community-oriented projects. • Important aspect: Strengthening the integration work carried out by immigrant organizations; therefore, structural funding was introduced in 2013
Outlook: Future trends • Shortage of skilled labour due to demographic change • Recruitment of well skilled workers becomes more and more important. • Germany must become more attractive for highly skilled workers, for example by reducing red tape and recognizing foreign qualifications • To sum up: Developing a more welcoming culture