PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Temporary transnational migration is an increasingly important phenomenon, which is partly reflected in the growing numbers of migrants and the alignment of the German migration legislation over the last years. On the one hand, international migration, and particularly temporary stays of Asians in Germany, has gained increasing importance. Accordingly, in 2013 Germany was the second most popular immigration country after the USA in absolute numbers (BAMF 2015); with 12.4% of all international migrants, immigration from Asia represents the third largest inflow of foreign people after EU and non-EU countries (Kreienbrink and Mayer 2014). On the other hand, two trends in immigration law can be noted: First, as Beine et al. (2015) observed for several receiving countries, also in Germany immigration laws are selective in nature and geared towards the attraction of migrants with particular characteristics. Second, the German immigration legislation has so far mainly been designed for temporary stays, since most permits are limited to a certain period of time (e.g. the regular resident permit, the EU Blue Card for professionals, the international student resident permit and the residence permits for asylum seekers). However, current German legislation also provides opportunities for more permanent stays, particularly for professionals who are able to incorporate successfully into the German labour market.