Nearly 40% of Chancen-Aufenthalt participants in Germany received the right to stay — Der Spiegel

In Germany, 36,368 people who used the right of residence under the Chancen-Aufenthalt program had obtained a permanent right to remain in the country by September 30, 2026. This is nearly 40% of the 91,116 residence permits issued under this provision, Der Spiegel reports, citing the federal government's response to a parliamentary inquiry by Green Party lawmaker Filiz Polat.

Program conditions

The Chancen-Aufenthalt right of residence was introduced at the end of 2022. It applied to people with deferred deportation status who had been living continuously in Germany for at least five years as of October 31, 2022.

Participants were issued a residence permit valid for 18 months. During this time, they had to meet the conditions for obtaining a permanent right to remain: largely support themselves independently, have a sufficient command of German, and have an established identity or take all necessary and reasonable measures to establish their identity.

The right of residence under this provision was not granted to people convicted of crimes or to those who deliberately provided false information about their identity and thereby obstructed deportation.

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Status of other participants

A permanent right to remain was granted to 32,233 adult participants, while in another 4,135 cases it was granted to minors and young people. As of September 30, 7,131 people still held Chancen-Aufenthalt status.

Another 27,763 former program participants were in Germany with a certificate confirming that they had applied for a residence permit, with no decision yet made on their applications. A total of 11,935 people returned to deferred deportation status, while 3,957 former participants were no longer in Germany as of the specified date.

Other participants received other types of residence permits, their documents were revoked or expired, or they were denied. The CDU, CSU, and SPD agreed in their coalition agreement to tighten migration policy and did not extend the Chancen-Aufenthalt provision. Filiz Polat criticized this decision.