コロナ禍におけるドイツの移民・難民のための統合コース

The German government is currently conducting integration courses to address the need of migrants and refugees to learn the German language, and to enable them to become familiar with various aspects of German social life and the legal system. As of 2020, about 2.43 million people had taken an integration course since the start of 2005. The annual number of participants peaked at about 340,000 in 2016, which was affected by the European migrant crisis, and decreased to 176,000 in 2019. The number of participants in 2020, which was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, was 106,000. The number of immigrants and refugees flowing into Germany during the pandemic has dropped sharply, but the German government has taken various measures to continue the process of integration. This paper reports on the notifications issued by the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, BAMF) to the providers of integration courses before and after the lockdown in Germany that began in mid-March 2020. Also, with reference to the “five models for class continuation” measure stipulated by the government, the paper considers how integration courses have been implemented under the pandemic. There are various types of integrated courses, but in this paper, the general integration course (Allgemeiner Integrationskurs), which is taken by about 80% of all course participants, is featured.