Evaluation of the Law and the Ordinance on the Further Development of Skilled Labour Immigration , Date: 2025.04.17, format: project (current), area: Authority

In November 2023, further simplifications to immigration law came into force with the Law and the Ordinance on the Further Development of Skilled Labour Immigration, which build on the Skilled Labour Immigration Act of 2020. The aim is to increase the immigration of skilled workers from third countries to Germany. The new regulations will be evaluated by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Federal Office's Research Centre (BAMF-FZ) between 2025 and 2027.

Four main topics are analysed as part of the evaluation:

1. Effects of migration: Does the new legislation leads to an increase in labour migration from third countries and how does it affect overall labour and education migration to Germany? What are the effects on the structure of migration?
2. Administrative implementation: What challenges exist in the administrative implementation of the current legal regulations, both from an institutional perspective and from the point of view of migrants?
3. Integration: How are the foreign specialists and workers who make use of the new legal regulations integrated into the German labour market?
4. Abuse: Are there signs of abuse of the regulations? Are there risks for the welfare state?

The focus of the BAMF-FZ in the joint evaluation project is on quantitative results with regard to the effects of migration as well as analyses of the administrative implementation and possible misuse of the new legal regulations. The quantitative analyses are based on data from the Central Register of Foreigners and visa statistics. In order to obtain qualitative statements on administrative implementation, employees from selected immigration authorities and diplomatic missions will be interviewed, similar way to the accompanying research on the Skilled Immigration Act conducted in 2021/2022 
(BAMF-FZ Research Report 45). In a further step, migrant workers affected by the new regulations will be questioned quantitatively.

It is planned to publish an interim report on the project in early 2027 and the final report in spring 2028. We will keep you informed about the publications on this website.