Apply for admission to the integration course

The Residence Act provides for different forms of access to integration courses.The form of access that applies to you depends on when you received your residence title, whether you are a late repatriate or an EU citizen, have a certain status under the Residence Act or are German.

For all groups, you must first obtain an entitlement certificate before you can participate in an integration course.

You obtained your residence status before 01.01.2005

If there are still places available, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees can admit you to an integration course. To do so, you must send an application to a regional office of the Office. Please use the application form for this purpose.

Under certain circumstances, you may also be obliged to participate because you are requested to do so by an authority. Such an obligation to participate comes into consideration if you are a foreigner and

• you receive unemployment benefit II, the obligation is provided for in the integration agreement and the office that pays you unemployment benefit II obliges you to participate or

• you are in special need of integration and the foreigners authority requests you to participate.

For more information, see:

• Integration courses if the residence title was issued before 01.01.2005

You have received your residence status as of 01.01.2005

If you have received a permanent residence or settlement permit for the first time after this date (only if the residence permit was issued for the purposes specified in Section 44 (1) Residence Act), you are entitled to an integration course. This entitlement does not apply to children, adolescents and young adults who are undergoing school education in Germany, if there is a recognisably low need for integration or if you already speak sufficient German (you may then still attend an orientation course).

If you cannot communicate in German in a simple way or if you receive unemployment benefit II and the office from which you receive support asks you to do so, you are obliged to take a course.

For more information, see:

• Integration courses when a residence title is issued as of 01.01.2005
   

Late repatriates

You are entitled to take part in an integration course if you either came to Germany after 01.01.2005 or came to Germany before that and have not yet taken a language course that is funded by the Federal Employment Agency. Even if you have already taken a language course sponsored by the Federal Employment Agency, you can be admitted to the integration course if there are still places available (Section 44 (4) sentence 2 of the Residence Act).

The course is free of charge for you, your spouse and your children.

For more information, see:

• Integration courses for late repatriates
   

EU citizens

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees can admit you to a course if there are still places available. To do so, you must send an application to a regional office of the Office.

For more information, see:

• Integration courses for EU citizens
   

German citizens

If you do not speak sufficient German or are in particular need of integration, you can take part in a course if there are still places available. To do so, you must send an application to a regional office of the Office.

For more information, see:

• Integration courses for Germans
   

Long-term tolerated persons

§ Section 104 a of the Residence Act specifies the conditions under which foreigners who have been tolerated for many years can obtain a residence title with which they can be admitted to an integration course. With a residence title according to Section 104 a (1) Residence Act or Section 23 (1) Residence Act, the foreigner can apply for admission to an integration course at the competent regional office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. With the admission, he or she can register with a course provider to attend the course.

Long-term tolerated persons can be obliged to participate if they receive unemployment benefit II and the obligation is provided for in the integration agreement.

Third-country nationals who are long-term residents

If you can prove that you have resided in another EU member state for more than 5 years, the Aliens' Registration Office will determine your entitlement to participate in a course. You will then receive an entitlement to participate.

You are obliged to participate if you speak little or no German or receive unemployment benefit II and the competent office requests you to participate. If you have a residence permit according to § 38a of the Residence Act (i.e. your residence permit can be transferred from another EU country) and have already participated in integration measures in another EU country, you only have to attend the language course, not the orientation course.

Integration courses as preparation for the naturalisation test

The integration courses can also be used as preparation if you are about to take the naturalisation test and need proof of sufficient German language skills. The 45-hour orientation course covers many topics that are part of the naturalisation test. However, there are also special naturalisation courses that prepare you comprehensively and specifically for the naturalisation test on the basis of a framework curriculum.

• Section 44(4) of the Act on the Residence, Employment and Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Federal Territory (Residence Act – AufenthG)
• Section 24 of the Act on the Residence, Employment and Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Federal Territory (Residence Act – AufenthG)
• Section 5(1) and (4) of the Ordinance on the Organisation of Integration Courses for Foreign Nationals and Ethnic German Returnees (Integration Course Ordinance – IntV)
• Section 11(1) of the Act on the General Freedom of Movement of Union Citizens (Freedom of Movement Act/EU – FreizügG/EU)

Further information:

• Integration courses - What are they?

  (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees)

• Search for integration courses on site

  (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees)

• Online appointment allocation Foreigners Department