(de-news.net) – A proposal advanced by the SPD parliamentary group to introduce a broadly defined right of residence for all migrants who are either employed or undergoing vocational training and assessed as well integrated was met with firm resistance from senior representatives of Germany’s Union parties. Günter Krings (CDU), deputy chair of the Union parliamentary group, argued that such an undifferentiated initiative would place at risk the existing migration law framework, which he characterized as having been carefully and laboriously reestablished in recent years. From his perspective, the proposal failed to respect the deliberate distinction between humanitarian admission and labor-market-oriented migration. By blurring these categories, he contended, the SPD’s approach would weaken the Union’s own skilled-immigration rules, as it could enable former asylum seekers to secure permanent residence on the basis of vocational training or limited employment alone, rather than through criteria specifically designed for labor migration.
This line of reasoning was echoed by Alexander Throm (CDU), the Union parliamentary group’s spokesperson on internal affairs. Throm emphasized that existing legislation already provides legally defined routes to permanent residence for Syrians who demonstrate sustained employment, long-term integration, and independence from social assistance. He stressed that these mechanisms were intended to reward durable integration over time rather than short-term labor market participation. While he acknowledged that individuals in low-wage employment may still qualify for supplementary benefits, Throm pointed to the continued receipt of citizen’s allowance by roughly 470,000 Syrians as an indication that, in the absence of a sufficient protection justification, extended reliance on public funds could not reasonably be expected of taxpayers.
In contrast, several SPD politicians defended the demand for a residence entitlement explicitly linked to work and integration. Sonja Eichwede, deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, framed the proposal primarily in economic terms, arguing that Germany’s economy is structurally dependent on immigration. In her assessment, individuals who are employed, engaged in training, and contributing to overall economic performance should be allowed to remain, particularly where domestic firms have already invested resources in their qualification and integration. From this standpoint, removing well-integrated workers from established social and economic structures was described as both difficult to justify and harmful to broader social cohesion.
Hakan Demir, the SPD’s spokesperson on interior policy, situated this position within the framework of existing coalition commitments. He referred to the coalition agreement’s emphasis on enabling asylum seekers to enter the labor market as quickly as possible and pointed to current policy instruments—including the opportunity residence permit and employment- or training-related toleration statuses—as substantive foundations for the SPD’s argument. According to Demir, maintaining economic prosperity and social stability in an aging society would be increasingly challenging if individuals who actively contribute through work and social participation were nonetheless subject to deportation.
