Germany with a population of 82 million and the fourth largest economy in the world happens to be the second most popular “immigration country” after the US. Every year, hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over the world find their new home in Germany and more than 100 thousand foreign nationals living in Germany acquire German citizenship through naturalization. Today, one out of eight Germans was born outside of Germany whereas one out of five persons living in Germany has at least partial foreign roots. That is, 16.5 million German inhabitants have a migratory background (i.e., they are either former immigrants or foreigners born in Germany, or they have one immigrant or foreign parent). About half of the people with a migratory background living in Germany have a German passport.

Purposes for Immigration

Germany is among the countries most open to immigration, certain criteria must be met. That is to say, the second biggest immigration destination in the world can be picky. Hence, in order to receive a residence title in Germany a person must have a strong case – unless one is a citizen of the EU/EFTA country. To assess your chances you should know who is welcome and who is less so. This list of the most common purposes for immigrating to Germany should help you with that:

• Studying and vocational training
• Internships and research (under the immigration category “scientist”)
• Employment (as “highly skilled professional”) and self-employment
• Family reunification

Most migrants come to Germany for study or work, or as refugees seeking political asylum while many also get there through family reunification. Germany has relaxed its immigration laws already in 2005 and has been attracting highly skilled professionals from around the world to fill the gaps in its labour market. However, for unskilled labour the door has remained closed so far. An exception are the citizens of another EU or EFTA country (commonly known as the European Economic Area, which includes all EU member states plus Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland) who, though technically foreign migrants, must be treated as German citizens when buying properties, seeking employment or pursuing higher education in Germany. All other foreign nationals need a special residence title in order to stay, study or work in Germany.

So, before you start getting ready your papers and spending money on translations and immigration lawyers, consider whether you fall within any of the aforementioned immigration categories.

General Requirements for Immigration

As a general rule, individuals wishing to immigrate to Germany (others than refugees and EU/EFTA citizens, i.e. EEA nationals) must have a clean criminal record, their health insurance policy must cover Germany and they must be in good financial standing to secure an initial residence title. That is, they will have to prove to the German immigration authorities that they can support themselves financially for the duration of their stay. In addition, depending on the purpose of their intended stay in Germany, candidates must demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in the German language.

To be continued