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TABLE 1 (cont.)
IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM LEGISLATION
Refugees EU Citizens and
EEA Nationals
• Aliens Act
+ Geneva Convention
refugee status
+ temporary protected
and other humanitarian
statuses after refugee
determination
• Statute on Measures
Related to Refugees
Admitted in the
Framework of
Humanitarian Relief
Actions – quota refugee
status
• Federal Statute on
Homeless Aliens –
homeless aliens status
(displaced persons of
WW II and their
descendants)
• Regulation on Freedom
of Movement, 1997 –
freedom of movement of
EU citizens not gainfully
employed
139
Third-country
Nationals
Source: Expulsion and Detention of Aliens in the European Union Countries,
B. Nascimbene (Ed.).
GERMANY
The main legal instruments are the Aliens Act (1990) and the Asylum Procedure Act (1982). The
Aliens Act, adopted on 1 January 1991, comprises a set of rules regulating the conditions of
entry and residence. The main tenets of this Act are (a) to support integration of long-term
residents and (b) to control immigration.
Following the longstanding guiding political principle that “Germany is not an immigration
country”, the Aliens Act of 1990 for the first time established some clear legal grounds for the
residence status of aliens lawfully residing in Germany. Discretionary provisions were replaced
by provisions giving foreigners legal entitlements under clear-cut circumstances, thus improving
their integration. 2
As the Länder are responsible for implementing the Aliens Act, the Federal Ministers of Interior,
with the consent of the Bundesrat, established a set of administrative regulations according to
which the Länder interpret the Federal Aliens Act. In addition, the Conference of Ministers of
Interior meets regularly to discuss refugee, asylum and immigration matters, and decide on
respective measures and decrees. Its working groups on refugees and return, composed of different
state ministries, regularly deal with migration and return and coordinate their administrative
and executive approach.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the number of asylum applications increased drastically and led to
the adoption of the Asylum Procedure Act in 1982. This act was amended substantially in the
course of Germany’s asylum reform (1993) and has been effective since then. The major change