Shin Maruo

(Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office)

Postwar Germany accepted a large number of workers, especially from Turkey, Italy, and Greece, in the course of the "German Wirtschaftswunder," or "Economic Miracle." After the ban on recruitment in 1973, the inflow of foreign workers to Germany decreased; however, due to the inflow of the summoned families and refugees, among others, the overall number of foreigners increased.


On 1 January 2005, a new immigration law took effect. One of the most important contents of the new law is the issue of integration. In Germany, a "Parallel Society" that is alienated from mainstream German society has come into existence, and people understand that integrating immigrants is essential because there is a strong probability that such a "Parallel Society" could threaten German society in the future.

After the immigration law took effect, a German language course (600 hours) and an orientation course (30 hours) were implemented in the framework of the integration course as a federal budget item. This paper gives an overview of the integration course as well as the situation regarding its implementation as of FY2005 and FY2006 followed by a discussion of the challenges that it faces.