There are two offices responsible for the practical affairs of foreigners (healthcare, housing, etc.): the ‘Ausländerbehörde’ (Office for Foreigners), which is connected to the local authorities, and the ‘Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge’ (State Department for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees).

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There are two offices responsible for the practical affairs of foreigners (healthcare, housing, etc.): the ‘Ausländerbehörde’ (Office for Foreigners), which is connected to the local authorities, and the ‘Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge’ (State Department for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees). In principle, to enter Germany and reside there an alien needs a residence approval (Aufenthaltsgenehmigung) which is further categorized into different forms of residential status: 'Aliens require a residence approval for entry and residence within federal territory.'

a) Aufenthaltsbewilligung (Residence title for special purposes), by definition only a temporary stay, for a particular purpose' (e.g., study courses). A change of the purpose of the stay and an extension of the residence allocation after the fulfillment of the original purpose of the stay is precluded. A change of study program during this period is extremely difficult.

b) Aufenthaltsbefugnis (Authorization of residence, title for exceptional purposes), granted, 'if an alien is allowed entry and residence within federal territory for reasons of international rights or urgent humanitarian reasons or for maintaining the political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany'. It may be either granted or extended for a maximum of two years. An alien who has been in possession of authorization of residence for eight years may be granted an unrestricted residence permit, if certain preconditions are fulfilled, such as, among other things, the securing an income through ones own employment or through demonstrating ones means of subsistence.

c) Aufenthaltserlaubnis (Residence permit), which is not bound to a particular purpose. It may be issued with a specific expiry date and may be extended, or (in the case of asylum) issued without an expiry date. It may be issued with stipulations (e.g., a proscription of self-employment). Often is it initially issued with an expiry date, and only after a number of years is it exchanged for an unrestricted residence permit. Residence permits are issued to, for example, persons who are granted asylum. Newly arriving foreign workers from non EU states may be issued with them only in exceptional cases, e.g. close family relatives or scientists with special qualifications or, for example professional sports(wo)men.

d) Aufenthaltsberechtigung (Right of residence), with no time limit. With the exception of a ban on political activity, it contains no other conditions or stipulations. Right of residence is to be granted if the person has been in possession of a residence permit for at least 8 years, or an unrestricted residence permit for at least 3 years and has previously been in possession of an authorization of residence. In addition, particular conditions must be fulfilled, for example; the securing of an income by one's means, regular payments to the obligatory pension funds (for further stipulations, see article 27 Aliens Act)

e) Duldung (temporary suspension of deportation, that is, illegal status recognized by authorities), a residence status given to migrants whose application for asylum has not been accepted but can not return or be sent back e. g. to a country where there is a civil war, or due to medical reasons. A refugee living on a ‘Duldung’ can not obtain a work permit and can't leave the "Land" of placement. Duldung is time-limited and has to be renewed every 3 to 6 months. Refugees and migrants on a ‘Duldung’ should have access to medical care by collecting an insurance form at their local Social Welfare Center. Medical care is restricted to ‘acute disease’.

The minors and spouses of Germans, EU aliens and aliens who hold at least a residence permission with unlimited duration have the right to the issuance of residence approval (as long as they fulfill the general preconditions, such as; securing an income through employment, sufficient living conditions, the absence of grounds for expulsion). In all other cases state assessment comes into effect.

The new Immigration law (Law on the Regulation and Limitation of Immigration and on Regulation of Residence and Integration of EU-citizens and Aliens [Gesetz zur Steuerung und Begrenzung der Zuwanderung und zur Regelung des Aufenthalts und der Integration von Unionsbürgern und Ausländern) which is going through the German legislative process (subject to a Constitutional Court decision) will bring about some simplifications, especially with regard to conditions for acquiring residence permits. The new law proposes only two types of residence permits: the residence permit (always limited according to the intended purpose of the stay in Germany) and the settlement permit (unlimited). To be granted a settlement permit one will have to meet nine conditions among which are the very same conditions an alien has to meet now in order to get an unlimited residence permit or a right to residence, but he or she must have had a residence permit for at least 5 years (sooner than it is possible now).

German public health offices (‘Gesundheitsämter’) are in charge only of specific situations which are considered public health questions: infectious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases, for instance, are diagnosed and treated anonymously and free of charge, whereas vaccinations for children are offered by some co-operating public health services (‘Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst’) without questions about the residence status. HIV and AIDS diagnosis is also anonymous and free of charge, but to have free treatment a foreigner must have at least the minimal status of residence, the ‘Duldung’.

About 90% of the German population is in one of various ‘Krankenkassen’ in an obligatory health insurance system. Some people has a private health insurance as self-employed or because of their high income, but a residence permit is a precondition for any health insurance scheme. The obligatory health insurance system is linked to employment or to the family where at least one person is legally employed, studying or temporarily unemployed. The Social Welfare Centres covers the cost of health insurance for long-term unemployed, homeless persons, asylum seekers and refugees. In case of an emergency (an acute, life-threatening situation: disturbance of respiration, cardio-circulatory function, consciousness, water-, electrolyte- and acid- base balance or danger of irreversible damage of organs because of trauma, acute illness or intoxication) the law obliges hospitals, emergency units and general practitioners to provide medical treatment, without differentiating between patients with a residence permit or health insurance. Hospitals can ask the Social Welfare Center to refund the expenses for non-insured persons regardless of residential status, but in case of an undocumented migrant the Social Welfare Center has to inform the Office for Foreigners, which is obliged to inform the police. Planned hospital treatments (operations, treatment of chronic diseases, etc.) are not available to ‘illegals’ and some hospitals have created social funds or special agreements for undocumented migrants.

Section 30 of the General Code of Social Security Law (Sozialgesetzbuch I) rules that the provisions of the social security law apply to everybody, who is resident or has his or her habitual place of residence in the territorial scope of application of the law. However, there is a lack of specific anti-discrimination legislation at the federal level against racial discrimination in key social services, such as housing, education, health, employment and the provision of goods and services.

Since 1993 only foreigners with unlimited right of residence or a limited residence permit are entitled to family allowance. Emigrants of German descent were instructed as of February 1996 that they must remain in their assigned region of residence for at least two years before becoming fully entitled to claim integration and social security allowances. All workers, German nationals and others, must contribute to the insurance scheme for care in old age. There is a proposal of reduction of social security allowance for asylum-seekers, civil war refugees and 'tolerated' foreigners. The measures will lead to these categories receiving up to 20 per cent less in social welfare than the amount granted to German recipients during their first three years in Germany. Already the 1993 Asylum Benefits Law cut government financial assistance to asylum-seekers in favor of food, clothes and coupons exchangeable only in specific shops.

According to German Basic Law, the legislative competence especially for schools and universities education mainly lies with the Länder of Germany. In recent years many German Länder included in their school laws provisions prohibiting any form of racial or religious discrimination (e.g.: The Land of Brandenburg adopted in 1996 an Act Concerning the Schools which provides for equal access to schools "independent of the economic or social situation, the national origin, the political or religious conviction gender"). Despite a ten-year compulsory education laid down in the German law (as well as in the Geneva Convention) children do not have an official right of access to nursery schools or education. Children of migrants and immigrants are over-represented at lower secondary schools and special schools for under-achievers and correspondingly under-represented at intermediate and grammar schools. There is also a high average drop-out rate amongst these groups of children. Certain schools at the level of the Länder and municipalities are carrying out interesting initiatives such as preparatory courses, mother tongue education and the teaching of German as a second language. As concerns vocational training, in the last years there has been a decrease in the participation of foreigners in the dual vocational system. Furthermore amongst vocational students who do not obtain their final vocational certificate, non-Germans significantly outnumber German citizens.

Members of Roma and Sinti communities face serious social disadvantage and are confronted with prejudice and discrimination in such fields as employment, housing and education.

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.

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