The German Bundestag’s Committee on Internal Affairs has published the agenda for a public hearing on the draft ‘Migrationsverwaltungsdigitalisierungsweiterentwicklungsgesetz’ (MDWG), to be held at noon on Monday, 4 May 2026, in the Paul-Löbe-Haus. The bill is a centre-piece of Germany’s effort to move visa, residence-permit and asylum workflows onto a single federated IT platform by 2028. Under the proposal, immigration authorities (Ausländerbehörden), the Federal Employment Agency, consular posts and the planned ‘Work-and-Stay Agency’ would share data in real time via a secure cloud. The government says this could cut average processing times for skilled-worker visas from the current ten weeks to six and reduce annual compliance costs for employers by €16 million. Monday’s hearing will feature testimony from digital-government experts, privacy advocates, judges, and migrant-rights NGOs. Key points of contention include data-protection safeguards, the proposed use of AI-assisted risk-scoring to flag fraudulent applications, and whether applicants should have full online access to their case files. For global-mobility teams the reform promises faster turnaround on Blue Cards, Opportunity Cards and family-reunification permits—provided that the IT overhaul is funded and implemented consistently across Germany’s 400-plus local authorities. HR departments are advised to monitor the legislative process and budget for API integration once technical specifications are published later this year.
Source: Deutscher Bundestag
