Germany has a high need for skilled labour from non-EU countries in many sectors. Therefore, a legal framework (Skilled Labour Migration Act) was established end of 2023 to create transparency on potential education and labour migration pathways. Research on these new structures often follows economic perspectives and refers, e.g., to estimated effects (Adunts et al., 2024) or increased efficiency (PD, 2024). Recent migrant monitoring reports a high number of skilled workers ready to remigrate from Germany due to poor labour and life sufficiency as well as a lack of feeling welcome (Kosyakova et al., 2025). At the same time, the net migration to Germany is decreasing below calculated needs (Federal Statistical Office, 2026). Nevertheless, there is research on factors for belonging or social inclusion in international discourses which, however, seems to lack in the national public discourse on labour migration. This research closes a gap between a technical and humanistic perspective following the research questions: How do migrants describe and experience their way to Germany? What patterns can be observed? To what extent does the system provide differentiated support? Data collection took place from July to November 2025, applying a data triangulation of mixed empirical methods and a literature review (Flick, 2011). The quantitative questionnaire covered among others the dimensions ‘skills and qualification profile’, ‘recent employment and perceived skills mismatch’, ‘social inclusion in everyday life and at workplace’ as well as ‘justice and discrimination’. The qualitative inquiry based on the same dimensions, enriched by detailed reports about decision making and migration pathways, reflected feelings, attitudes and personal insights. The quantitative research reached a total of 105 participants (after cleaning the data set) and the qualitative 24 interviewees. The research included both labour migrants and refugees. One core finding within the German case is a clear difference between the two groups of forced and labour migrants. Main distinguishing indicators are on motivational level. Refugees were mainly interested in security and showed a tendentially stronger relation to their country of origin. In contrast to that, they showed high motivation to engage in German labour market and society to "give something back". Labour migrants were rather interested in high-quality education and career. They appear to have a more critical view on life and work conditions in the target country. Both groups report difficulties to access the local society. Overall, social inclusion was reported as much more important than, e.g., the match between qualification and current job.

Adunts, D., Ivanov, B., & Vallizadeh, E. (2024). Migrationswirkungen des 2020 in Kraft getretenen Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetzes [Effects of the Skilled Immigration Act 2020]. IAB-Forschungsbericht, 25|2024. Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. https://doku.iab.de/forschungsbericht/2024/fb2524.pdf Flick, U. (2011). Triangulation: Eine Einführung [Triangulation. An introduction]. (3rd updated ed.). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-92864-7 Kosyakova, Y., Olbrich, L., Gallegos Torres, K., Hammer, L., Koch, T., & Wagner, S. (2025). Deutschland als Zwischenstation? Rückkehr- und Weiterwanderungsabsichten von Eingewanderten im Lichte neuer Daten des International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa) [Germany as a transit station? Return and onward migration intentions of immigrants in light of new data from the International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa)] (IAB-Forschungsbericht 15|2025). Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. https://doku.iab.de/forschungsbericht/2025/fb1525.pdf PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH. (2024). Zentralisierung der Erwerbsmigrationsverfahren: Machbarkeitsstudie [Feasibility study on centralizing employment migration procedures] (Study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Homeland, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs). https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/resource/blob/2701890/73cacf96176766ccf3f4399bff5e7036/machbarkeitsstudie-langform-data.pdf Statistisches Bundesamt (2026). Wanderungen im Oktober 2025: Rückgang der Nettozuwanderung gegenüber dem Vorjahreszeitraum [Migration in October 2025: Decline in net migration compared with the same period last year]. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Wanderungen/Wanderungsueberschuss.html