Overview
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt unveiled a “Sofort-in-Arbeit-Plan” to let applicants take jobs after three months even while their asylum cases are pending.
- The Interior Ministry says employment will not influence protection decisions, with exclusions for people with final rejections and those not cooperating in procedures.
- The government intends to anchor the change in the national transposition of the EU’s Common European Asylum System, with legislation expected to come before the Bundestag in the coming days.
- The SPD welcomed faster access as an integration and labor policy step, while the Greens questioned potential carve-outs and criticized concurrent cuts to publicly funded integration courses.
- Current rules often delay work to effectively six months for those required to stay in reception centers; DIW’s Marcel Fratzscher called the new access “overdue” and helpful for filling labor shortages.