Germany’s migration policy has changed rapidly in recent months; as the far-right AfD party showed an unprecedented rise in support, the ruling coalition recognized that migration became a central issue for Germans.
However, this shift may have discouraged immigrants with higher skills from staying, the very demographic the country wanted to keep.
Why Are Migrants Leaving Germany?
A recent survey by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) titled International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa) asked around 50,000 immigrants with German residency between the ages of 18 and 65 about whether they were planning to leave or stay and their reasons for doing so.
They found that around 25% of participants were considering leaving the country.
The most common reasons were the political climate, high taxes, complex bureaucracy, and the economic situation.
Since asylum seekers whose applications are being processed do not have residency, they were excluded from the study. The survey involved a high number of EU citizens (about 10,000), with the top nationalities being Ukrainian, Turkish, Indian, from the USA, and Polish, but it involved people from all over the world.
Based on the survey, it comes to light that the demographic Germany desperately needs, skilled workers, are the most likely to leave; while this is in part due to economic changes, many cite political reasons for it.
According to economist Christian Dustmann, director of the Rockwool Foundation Institute for the Economy, “politics has to walk a very fine line – between not overstretching the resident population” and “being welcoming to newcomers who are also important parts of the economy and society.”
The Fine Line in Politics
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) gained significant support with their criticism of Angela Merkel’s Wilkommenskultur policies, which have been blamed for rising crime, despite proof that this is not the case.
According to experts, an additional 400,000 immigrants per year must come to Germany to work and remain in order to retain its labor force.
“In knowledge-intensive service sectors such as IT, finance, and business-related services, between 30% and 39% of those surveyed are considering emigrating,” said Gallegos Torres, IAB researcher.
The report concluded that “a comprehensive reduction in bureaucracy, centralization, simplification, digitalization, and acceleration of migration and administrative processes – from entry to employment to the recognition of qualifications – could make integration considerably easier and strengthen the intention to stay in the long term.”
However, certain new policies are also encouraging settled workers to leave: the previous administration’s plan to fast-track citizenship for “well-integrated” migrants was abolished by Merz’s government, while border controls were reintroduced. The rising support for AfD is also discouraging for immigrants, who frequently report experiencing discrimination and social exclusion.
In order to attract the demographic it hopes to, German lawmakers must think carefully about how they incentivize, but many believe they should also consider a need for a larger shift in social perception on migrants.
