Overview

• On the decade mark of Merkel’s 2015 pledge, new analyses recount how the 2015–16 influx and the post‑2022 arrivals strained housing, schools and municipal finances.
• SVR member Hannes Schammann warns that politics should drop promises of a sweeping “Migrationswende” and avoid symbolic border gestures.
• Labour‑market integration has improved, with roughly two‑thirds of the 2015 cohort in social‑insurance jobs, but schools struggle and a lack of affordable housing prolonged stays in group accommodations.
• Under the Merz government, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has tightened border checks as AfD‑driven polarization and heightened perceptions of insecurity keep migration central to debate.
• Analysts cite the need for regulated skilled immigration of up to about 400,000 workers a year, and refugee advocates emphasize their readiness to work and contribute if barriers are reduced.