Overview

• A coalition of labour-market networks “Alle an Bord!” and “B.O.A.T.” together with the Handwerkskammer Lübeck formally appealed in Kiel for an immediate stop to deportations of asylum-seekers holding Duldung status who are enrolled in vocational training.
• The appeal demands that Ausländerbehörden give priority to Ausbildungsduldung applications to avert legal uncertainty and prevent apprentices from facing deportation before or during their training.
• Handwerkskammer Lübeck official Carmen Haas noted that 13 percent of the chamber district’s almost 10,000 apprentices are foreign nationals, and she warned that businesses rely heavily on these trainees.
• FDP lawmaker Bernd Buchholz called for the centralisation of foreigner offices to streamline permit decisions and ease the backlog of residency applications tied to vocational apprenticeships.
• Labour networks and craft associations warned that without administrative reforms to expedite Duldung approvals, thousands of apprenticeship positions across northern Germany will stay unfilled.