Report on Interior Ministry plans: Asylum seekers ought to be allowed to work quicker | EUROtoday

As of: February 22, 2026 • 11:32 a.m

Asylum seekers who need to begin work immediately have up to now encountered hurdles in Germany. Interior Minister Dobrindt apparently needs to alter that: According to a media report, an “immediate plan” has been drawn up.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt needs to get asylum seekers into work extra rapidly. He instructed the newspaper Bild am Sonntag that he had an “immediate plan” drawn up. “Anyone who comes here should be able to work – and quickly.” The finest integration is into the world of labor. “The goal is participation through activity,” stated the CSU politician. He needs to implement the corresponding plans from the coalition settlement. The Interior Ministry has now confirmed the report.

Accordingly, asylum seekers ought to be allowed to work in Germany after three months of residence, even when their asylum process has not but been accomplished. The course of ought to proceed no matter whether or not somebody has discovered a job or not. There ought to be no obligation to work.

Asylum procedures ought to run independently of labor

According to Bild, a spokeswoman for Dobrindt stated: “The new rules do not change the process and outcome of the asylum procedure.”

“Asylum seekers who have already been rejected and people who do not participate in the process, i.e. conceal their identity or deceive people about their reasons for fleeing,” are expressly not allowed to profit.

Working asylum seekers are typically allowed to maintain their earnings, the spokeswoman stated, based on the report. “If they receive social benefits, their earnings are taken into account, for example for accommodation.”

No work for folks in Reception amenities

The Federal Employment Agency describes in a leaflet how the scenario is presently regulated. With reference to the Asylum Act, it says: “Consent to work can be granted to people with toleration and asylum seekers if they have been legally resident in the federal territory for three months.”

However, so long as asylum seekers are obliged to dwell within the reception facility, they don’t seem to be allowed to work. “The waiting time can therefore be up to six months.” However, asylum seekers from so-called protected international locations of origin are obliged to dwell within the reception middle for the whole length of the asylum process.

With data from Benjamin Großkopff, ARD capital studio

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/dobrindt-asylbewerber-arbeit-100.html