Research Centre Immigration & Asylum Law

Regularisation programmes are controversial in many countries. Germany has six such options already, which will be extended further once the latest proposal of the government has been adopted. The future legislation will combine a residence permit ‘on probation’ for those who entered before the end of 2016 with an extension of an existing legalisation scheme, which covers future entries as well. The latter is controversial, since its three-, four-, and six-year qualification period starts…

The term ‘racism’ is experiencing a renaissance in Germany. An inspection of the judicial practice unearths a contrast between a narrow approach of discrimination on grounds of ‘race’ or ‘ethnic origin’ revolving around physical characteristics and different degrees of broad conceptualisations in the interdisciplinary debate. Judith Froese und Daniel Thym, both professors at the University of Konstanz, have assembled a team of leading scholars from across Germany to contribute to the Open Access…

Russians find it increasingly difficult to leave the country as tourists, deserters, or for political reasons. The Baltic States, Poland, and Finland have closed their borders and stopped issuing visas, except for narrow categories of humanitarian cases. The Commission tries to coordinate national practices. In a blogpost for the Odysseus Network, Daniel Thym analyses whether and under which conditions the border closure and visa ban are compatible with the Schengen Borders Code and the Visa…