Integration courses for foreigners - applying for participation

• You have a
  • Residence permit
    • for the purpose of gainful employment (self-employed and employed gainful employment),
    • for the purpose of family reunification
    • for humanitarian reasons or
    • as a long-term resident
  • Settlement permit
    The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has granted you an admission permit on the basis of an order by the Federal Ministry of the Interior to safeguard particularly serious political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• You are staying in Germany permanently.
• You can be admitted within the framework of available course places, provided that you
  
  • you have a residence permit (Aufenthgaltsgestattung)
  • have a toleration order for urgent humanitarian or personal reasons or because of substantial public interests, or
  • have a residence permit for temporary protection or for humanitarian reasons.

You are obliged to participate if you meet the above-mentioned requirements and

• are not able to communicate in German at least in a simple manner
• Receive benefits under Book II of the Social Code (e.g. Unemployment Benefit II) and have been requested to attend the integration course by the basic benefits agency for job seekers
• are in particular need of integration and the foreigners authority has requested you to attend, or
• have a residence permit, a toleration for urgent humanitarian or personal reasons or because of substantial public interests or a residence permit for temporary protection or for humanitarian reasons and receive benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act and the competent benefits authority has requested you to attend an integration course.

There is no entitlement to participate

• children, adolescents and young adults who are taking up school education or continuing their previous school career in Germany,
• if there is a recognisably low need for integration or
• if they have sufficient knowledge of the German language.

Foreigners are exempt from the obligation to attend,

• who are undergoing vocational or other training in the Federal territory,
• who provide evidence of participation in comparable educational programmes in the Federal territory,
• whose participation is permanently impossible or unreasonable, or
• who already have a long-term residence permit from another EU member state and have taken part in integration measures there.

Attention: Violation of the obligation to participate can lead to the refusal of the extension of a residence permit or to the refusal of a settlement permit.

If you receive benefits according to the Second Book of the Social Code, your benefits may be reduced by up to 30 per cent. In addition, the Foreigners' Registration Office is entitled to charge you the expected contribution to the costs of the course ahead of time.