German Immigration Laws

There's a lot of talk of reform in Germany, but the wheels of change turn slowly. However, when it comes to altering laws regarding foreigners, the Socials Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU) -- who were forced into a grand coalition government last year -- seem to be on a decisive path.

Over the next few weeks, the SPD and CDU are expected to draft a bill that would tighten entry regulations for foreign students and implement EU directives on asylum and residency rights.

"I'm confident that we'll come to a viable agreement soon," Dieter Wiefelspütz, spokesperson on domestic issues for the SPD, told the online version of Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine.

Foreign students eyeing Germany as a possible place to study may now think twice now, said Christiane Wille, an advisor at the University of Cologne's International Relations Office.

"If students have to wait too long to get their visas to study here, they miss the enrollment date for classes and then have to postpone their studies by a semester," Wille said.

Some students are already having difficulty getting their studies started. Muslim students have frequently had to wait longer for their visas to study in Germany as more intense checks have occurred since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, Wille said.

Visas expire after one year instead of two

A working group of experts on domestic issues -- four each from the SPD and the CDU -- have apparently already fleshed out the tougher regulations, including stricter background checks for foreign students.

But Wille said she doubted the efficiency of prolonged looks into the pasts of students who have proved their academic abilities.

"Students who are accepted by our university already must prove their accomplishments when they apply," she said. "They are generally very qualified, otherwise they wouldn't be accepted in the first place."

New restrictions would also limit study visas to one year from the current two, and Germany's nearly 250,000 foreign students would have to report more regularly to local government offices.

However, Wille said the limitation from two years to one won't change the situation much since most of the nearly 6,000 foreign students at the University of Cologne only have one-year visas anyway, with students who wish to stay longer needing to extend their visas.

That's because a foreign student must show proof of a 7,000 euro ($8,700) deposit on a bank account for each year of study in Germany and "few students have 14,000 euros on a bank account," Wille said.

Other new regulations would see more thorough checks of guarantors or sponsors in Germany for foreign students in their visa applications.

"We want to make it legally possible to investigate those people vouching for foreign students here," Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CDU, told German public broadcaster ARD.

Security vs. civil rights

Some of the proposed restrictions stem largely from failed terrorist attacks on two German trains in July. Two suspects were arrested in connection with the failed attempts, one of them was a 21-year-old Lebanese man who had been studying in Germany.

The two men who vouched for the Lebanese student apparently were not investigated by officials providing visas, though police already had their eye on the two.

Jutta Graf, a spokeswoman on migration policies for the opposition Green parliamentary party, said the attempted bomb attacks make the wish for more thorough investigations of foreign students' guarantors understandable, but added that there is a fine line between anti-terror measures and the right to freedom and privacy.

"Collecting more data is not necessarily the answer," said Graf.

Since police were already suspicious of the two people vouching for the Lebanese student in Germany, that information should have been passed on, Graf said.

"Communication is key and more cooperation between agencies is necessary," she added.

Keeping foreign students coming

Tougher immigration laws will deter potential foreign students from studying here, Graf said, and pointed to a general sense of mistrust toward foreign nationals in Germany.

"It must remain clear that Germany wants young students from abroad," Volker Beck, head of the Green parliamentary group, said recently. "This is decisive for Germany as an academic center."

The SPD's Dieter Wiefelspütz told Spiegel Online that while Germany "should remain an open and cosmopolitan nation, security is essential."

German universities have a good reputation abroad and foreign students come to Germany for specific courses of study. "While I can understand anti-terror measures," Wille said, "it would be a shame to deter qualified students from coming here."

Not only students affected by new laws

Tougher immigration laws are not only to affect students. The coalition government has revoked plans to ease gaining residency status in Germany for highly qualified academics and scientists and is considering limitations for husbands and wives who wish to join their foreign spouses in Germany.

The German government is in a hurry to get the tougher immigration laws passed after a deadline for installing eight European Union directives on immigration expired on Oct. 10. Brussels is currently preparing legal action against Germany for not implementing the directives, which could result in hefty fines for the delays.