Steering What Can Be Steered: What Can Immigration and Integration Laws Do?
Annual Report 2018
April 2018
In its Annual Report 2018, the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR) explores the legislative possibilities for steering migration and promoting the social participation of all. It summarises the existing legal situation at the national and EU levels and points to political fields of action as well as the limits of legislative design. For example, the SVR proposes to facilitate immigration for skilled workers under a German Immigration Code. As regards integration, SVR advises understanding it as a cross-cutting task. Moreover, with a view to participation, it posits that fine-tuned basic laws that apply equally to all members of society promise a broader impact than integration measures that apply only to specific segments of the population. Finally, the SVR recommends that integration monitoring be enshrined in law, that the government departments be better coordinated, and that local communities be better supported in their integration efforts. The latter should also align their integration measures more closely with one another.
