Marking the Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the German Caritas Association sounded the alarm on 27 September over planned budget cuts to federal integration programmes. In a statement published by Sozial.de, Caritas board member Dr Oliver Müller said the draft 2027 budget would slash funding so deeply that only 40 of the current 210 asylum-procedure counselling centres could survive – a “Kahlschlag” (clear-cut) that would “slow down asylum procedures and weaken social cohesion”. Caritas underlines that its Migration Advice Service for Adult Immigrants (MBE) carried out 430,000 consultations in 2025 alone, helping newcomers navigate residence law, find jobs and avoid welfare dependency. The charity argues that early legal guidance lowers the burden on municipalities and courts. Cutting the programme, Müller warned, “saves a few million today but creates higher costs tomorrow when integration fails.” The warning coincides with coalition negotiations over the 2027 federal budget, where the finance ministry is seeking across-the-board savings of 3 percent. Immigration NGOs say mobility-related counselling is uniquely exposed because it sits in a discretionary spending line rather than the labour ministry’s core budget. Business-immigration lawyers caution that delays in counselling services often cascade into longer processing times for work permits and family-reunification visas, an issue that could hurt companies relying on Germany’s new Opportunity Card talent pathway. Caritas and other welfare groups have launched an “Aktionswoche Migrationsberatung” (Migration Counselling Action Week) from 28 September to 2 October, organising open days and panel discussions in more than 60 cities to lobby MPs before the budget committee vote in mid-October. Employers with active relocation pipelines are advised to join the dialogue; letters of support from industry helped reverse similar cuts in 2024. If the reductions proceed unchanged, relocation managers should prepare for patchier regional coverage and factor in extra lead-time for vulnerable assignees who depend on non-profit counselling, especially those switching from humanitarian to employment status.
Source: Sozial.de
