Integration course

The integration course is very helpful as you get used to life in Germany. During the course, you can learn German up to B1 level and also discover interesting details about German culture and the German way of life. If you have not yet learned to read and write, you can also learn during the integration course.

The integration course allows you to make some acquaintances in Germany. The German language skills you learn will also make it easier for you to communicate in Germany later on and to feel at home here.

Not everyone is entitled to participate in an integration course. Details of the entitlement to course participation follow below.

Integration course entitlement

You are entitled to attend an integration course if you are granted a residence permit for one of the following purposes for the first time:

• Residence permit for the purpose of employment as a skilled worker with vocational training or with academic training
• Residence permit for the purpose of research
• Residence permit for the purpose of unskilled employment or for employment involving specific practical and vocational knowledge
• Residence permit for the purpose of family reunification
• Residence permit as a person entitled to asylum / refugee / person entitled to subsidiary protection
• Residence permit as a well-integrated holder of an Exceptional Leave to Remain
• Residence permit as a long-term resident in another EU member state
• Residence permit as a resettlement refugee

In addition to the residence permit, you must reside in Germany permanently in order to be entitled to attend an integration course. This means that you must hold a residence permit valid for at least one year.

You will not be entitled to participate in the course if you start school education, have a recognisably low need for integration or already have sufficient German language skills (B1 level).

The integration course entitlement allows you to register with an integration course provider and enrol for the integration course there.

Successful completion of the integration course is required for the subsequent granting of a settlement permit.

Integration course obligation

If you cannot communicate in a simple manner in German (A1 level) when you are granted a residence permit, you will be obliged to attend an integration course.

You are also obliged to attend the integration course if you lack sufficient German language skills (B1 level) when you are granted a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification with your spouse or with your child, who is an unaccompanied minor refugee.

If you have been told to attend the integration course, we would like to ask you to take this request seriously. If you do not attend the integration course, your residence permit may not be extended. The subsequent granting of a settlement permit is also not possible in this case.