Today in Berlin, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser presented facts and figures on the Federal Government’s achievements in migration policy in the legislative period that just ended. Efforts in this policy field were focused on boosting immigration by skilled workers, effectively curbing irregular migration and taking rigorous action against people smuggling. In all three of these areas, Germany has made significant progress. 

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said: “You can’t make effective migration policy by talking a big game. It’s a management task that demands persistence and perseverance. The numbers speak for themselves: since 2021, we have increased skilled worker immigration by 77%. Today’s Germany invests more in integration and has become more attractive for talented, qualified skilled workers from around the world. Germany is a country of immigration – and it must remain so. This is vital for Germany’s future as a location for business and investment.

At the same time, irregular migration has been curbed significantly. The number of asylum applications is 50% lower than two years ago, and the number of deportations is 55% higher. The Federal Police have already denied entry to 50,000 people through our internal Schengen border checks. We are preventing people who have no right to enter our country from doing so, and we are stopping criminals. The new Common European Asylum System will be the key to further limitations and controls as well as strong protection of the EU’s external borders.

Having said that, it remains important for us to conduct debates about migration without resentment and with awareness that we are talking about human beings. I would like to see more respect for the almost 25 million people in our country who have an immigrant background. We need to show, again and again, that we are one country, we are once society, and we belong together.” 

In the recently ended legislative period, the Federal Government specifically took the following actions:

Skilled worker immigration and integration

• The new Skilled Immigration Act facilitates access for foreign skilled workers with many different types and levels of qualifications. Previous work experience is now taken into account more.
• Our citizenship law has been comprehensively reformed, particularly to offer foreign skilled workers long-term prospects in Germany and to make it easier for well-integrated, working people who have been living in Germany for many years to acquire citizenship. The naturalisation process has been made faster but also more rigorous. The new law allows for multiple citizenship and creates additional incentives for integration. At the same time, regulations have been tightened, with antisemites, Islamists and other extremists strictly excluded from naturalisation. Applicants for naturalisation must demonstrate that they are able to support themselves and their dependants.
• Integration from day one: to ensure that the German language and the values of our society are imparted to everyone who arrives here, integration courses have been expanded to include people whose asylum cases are still pending. The Federal Government also opened its language courses and advisory services to refugees from Ukraine shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression.

Curbing irregular migration

• Following intensive negotiations, which Germany played a key role in moving forward, the European Union agreed on a new Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The CEAS is crucial to limiting irregular migration. The new legal provisions provide for limitations, controls, strong protection of the EU’s external borders and – for the first time – a fairer distribution of refugees among EU countries. In future, the asylum applications of people who have little chance of being granted protection will be processed at the EU’s external borders.
• Strengthening the Federal Police and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF): In recent years, the staff of the Federal Police has increased significantly, with 1,000 new positions added per year in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has likewise expanded its workforce, gaining some 340 new permanent positions in the 2024 budget and more than 800 additional temporary positions. Additionally, various legal reforms have digitalised and sped up asylum procedures.
• Since 16 October 2023, the Federal Police have been conducting temporary border checks on Germany’s land borders with Austria (as before), Czechia, Poland and Switzerland. Since 16 September 2024, these temporary border checks have been conducted at all land borders with Germany’s neighbouring countries. Following on the previous considerable expansion of random checks in the border area, the border checks became necessary as a further measure to curb irregular migration.
• Package of measures in the field of returns: Legal changes to make more and quicker returns possible have given the federal states and municipalities additional instruments for effectively carrying out returns. These legal amendments included extending the maximum length of custody awaiting deportation from 10 days to 28 days. Powers to carry out search warrants in housing facilities have also been expanded. People who are required to leave the country and are in detention no longer have to be notified in advance of their deportation.
• At the beginning of 2025, Hamburg and Brandenburg became the first two federal states to establish Dublin centres in close cooperation with the federal level. At these centres, federal and state authorities pool their strengths so that people for whose asylum procedure a different EU country is responsible can be returned to that country more quickly. The exclusion of benefits in the cases of people required to be transferred to other EU countries also helps to streamline this process.

Facts and figures

Recruitment of skilled workers

Visas issued for the purpose of employment
(including vocational training)

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024
Total	97.000	152.000	158.000	172.000

Up by 77% in 2024 compared to 2021. Rounded values

Visas issued for the purpose of studying in Germany
(including preparation and application for studies)

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024
Total	63.000	71.000	76.000	90.000

Up by 43% in 2024 compared to 2021. Rounded values

Asylum applicants

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024	January to March 2025 (preliminary figures)
Total	164.924	252.422	324.636	213.499	33.157

Down by 35% from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025.

Down by 49% from the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2025.

First-time applications for asylum

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024	January to February 2025
Total	148.233	217.774	329.120	229.751	26.674

Down by 43% from January and February 2024 to January and February 2025.

Down by 50.9% from January and February 2023 to January and February 2025.

Countries from which the most applications are received (unchanged): Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey

Refugees from Ukraine in Germany

At the end of February 2025, a total of 1,252,954 people who had fled to Germany since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022 were recorded in the Central Register of Foreigners as currently residing in Germany.

Of these people, 82,111 (approx. 7%) are children aged five and under; 278,345 (approx. 22%) are children and teenagers between the ages of 6 and 17; 775,272 (approx. 62%) are adults aged 63 and under; and 117,226 (approx. 9%) are adults aged 64 or older. Approximately 58% of the refugees are female and approximately 42% are male (among refugees aged 18 and over, approximately 37% are male and 63% female).

Since 24 February 2022, a total of 1,664,140 people have entered Germany in connection with the war in Ukraine and found refuge here.

Returns

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024	January to February 2025
Total	11.982	12.945	16.430	20.084	3.874

Up by 30% from January and February 2024 to January and February 2025.

Up by 55% in 2024 compared to 2022.

Internal border checks:

Since Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser ordered temporary internal border checks (in effect at the borders with Czechia, Poland, and Switzerland since 16 October 2023; at the border with Austria as previously; and at all land borders with Germany since 16 September 2024), the Federal Police have:

• detected some 86,000 illegal entries,
• apprehended approx. 2,000 smugglers, and
• refused entry to around 50,000 people.

Integration courses

New participants by year

Year	2021	2022	2023	2024 (preliminary figures)
Total	104.356	340.438	363.478	363.450

248% increase from 2021 to 2024