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17% of the German population are foreign-born; many more have a ‘migration background’. This profound transformation entails that the collective self-image of Germany requires adaptation, also considering that the optimism of previous debates about equal membership has faded. Marginalised perspective call for recognition and structural change. A workshop, organised by Daniel Thym and two experts of literature, will bring together an interdisciplinary group on 22/23 June 2023. Participants will…

The Research Centre Immigration & Asylum Law will co-organise the Workshop on ‘Narratives for a Country of Immigration’ (in German), which will take place at the University of Konstanz on 21/22 June 2023 in physical presence.  The Regional Minister for Integration of Baden-Württemberg, Manfred ‘Manne’ Lucha, will contribute a political Keynote über „Zugehörigkeit und Zusammenhalt in Baden-Württemberg“ (Thursday, 21 June at 18:15), which can also be followed online as a hybrid event. External…

After more than 7 years of occasionally heated debates, Member States have agreed on a common position on two core pieces of asylum legislation. German politicians have reacted with mixed feelings: while domestic debates have yearned for a ‘European solution’ for years, some lament restrictive tendencies or the absence of immediate effects on the overburdened German reception system. Daniel Thym discusses the compromise with various media channels, amongst others in a 45-minute debate with the…

Asylum policy reform takes centre stage in the public debate in Germany and the EU in response to a ‘refugee summit’ in the chancellery and the forthcoming ‘showdown’ over the ongoing legislative debate in Brussels. These debates epitomise an underlying challenge: will Germany and Europe face continued ad hoc improvisation or witness a fundamental revision preparing the ground for a more sustainable asylum system? Will the reform proposals, if adopted, change much in practice? In an interview…

On the occasion of the informal ‘diversity day’, the public radio station WDR 5 has produced a podcast with Professor Thym (starting at 2’15 min., in German) on his normative vision of equal membership and togetherness in an increasingly diverse Germany. It takes up topics that feature prominently in the German debate and can learn from a comparison with the classic country of immigration: the US. For further comments, see the op-ed essay with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published in…

Germany is currently discussing another relaxation of its labour migration policies in response a shortage of skilled labour (Fachkräftemangel). New legislation is only one aspect, however. Equally important are efficient procedures and contextual factors. In his function as chairperson of the Advisory Board on the Mobility of Researchers with the (German) Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Daniel Thym officially handed over the annual report. It contains, as a novelty, a discussion…

German politics are increasingly preoccupied with migration and asylum as a reaction to arrivals from Ukraine and via the asylum system. The Chancellor is organising a ‘refugee summit’ which will focus, in addition to financial compensation, on how to manage movements by means of domestic instruments and via the European level. Professor Thym discusses these matters in a Podcast series of the radio station RBB-Inforadio and in an interview with the German national radio Deutschlandfunk Kultur…

Climate change is one of the biggest contemporary challenges. In its annual report, the German Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) analyses the impact of climate change on migratory movements from an empirical and normative perspective. With the participation of Professor Thym, the Expert Council identifies, amongst others, three elements with which Germany and other countries may respond by means of domestic legislation: a ‘climate passport’ for countries losing their territories…

Whether to protray Germany as a ‘country of immigration’ has served as controversial political symbol for decades. That description cannot be contested from an empirical perspective any longer, but this does not entail that the formula is a self-fulfilling prophecy whose recognition entails how the migration and integration policies should look like. In an Open-ed for the FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG (‘Migration gestalten statt verwalten’, in German), Daniel Thym discusses the consequences of…