In a dramatic late-night sitting that stretched into the early hours of 8 December, Germany’s Bundestag adopted the toughest immigration clamp-down since the 2016 asylum crisis. The bill amends the Residence Act in two decisive ways.
First, anyone placed in deportation detention (Abschiebungshaft) or the shorter pre-departure custody (Ausreisegewahrsam) will no longer receive a publicly-funded defence lawyer as a matter of course. Judges must now appoint counsel only in “particularly complex individual cases”. The automatic right to legal aid had been introduced only last year after Germany lost several cases at the European Court of Human Rights. Government supporters argue that the change will stop “procedural delaying tactics” and speed removals; migrant-rights groups warn it will increase wrongful detentions and contravene the Strasbourg rulings.
![Bundestag curbs migrants’ legal aid and hands ‘safe-country’ powers to Interior Ministry]()
Second, the law transfers the power to declare “safe countries of origin” from the Bundesrat (upper house) to the federal Interior Ministry. In practical terms this removes the Länder veto when Berlin wants to accelerate returns to states such as Morocco, Algeria or Georgia. Business associations welcomed the move, saying deportation cases that currently drag on for more than a year burden local authorities and clog the courts. Humanitarian NGOs counter that political, rather than legal, criteria will now determine safety assessments.
For corporate mobility managers the immediate impact is twofold. Companies that employ third-country nationals whose asylum claims have been rejected will need contingency plans: once a worker is detained, counsel may have to be retained privately and at very short notice. At the same time, faster designation of “safe” countries could dovetail with forthcoming labour-migration agreements that trade deportations for legal work visas – potentially opening new recruitment channels in North Africa and the Balkans.
The bill now proceeds to the Bundesrat for a procedural reading but, because the upper house has been stripped of its blocking power on the ‘safe-country’ clause, only the detention-law changes could face revisions. The Interior Ministry says the reforms will enter into force “no later than 1 February 2026”, giving employers less than two months to update compliance protocols.
First, anyone placed in deportation detention (Abschiebungshaft) or the shorter pre-departure custody (Ausreisegewahrsam) will no longer receive a publicly-funded defence lawyer as a matter of course. Judges must now appoint counsel only in “particularly complex individual cases”. The automatic right to legal aid had been introduced only last year after Germany lost several cases at the European Court of Human Rights. Government supporters argue that the change will stop “procedural delaying tactics” and speed removals; migrant-rights groups warn it will increase wrongful detentions and contravene the Strasbourg rulings.
Second, the law transfers the power to declare “safe countries of origin” from the Bundesrat (upper house) to the federal Interior Ministry. In practical terms this removes the Länder veto when Berlin wants to accelerate returns to states such as Morocco, Algeria or Georgia. Business associations welcomed the move, saying deportation cases that currently drag on for more than a year burden local authorities and clog the courts. Humanitarian NGOs counter that political, rather than legal, criteria will now determine safety assessments.
For corporate mobility managers the immediate impact is twofold. Companies that employ third-country nationals whose asylum claims have been rejected will need contingency plans: once a worker is detained, counsel may have to be retained privately and at very short notice. At the same time, faster designation of “safe” countries could dovetail with forthcoming labour-migration agreements that trade deportations for legal work visas – potentially opening new recruitment channels in North Africa and the Balkans.
The bill now proceeds to the Bundesrat for a procedural reading but, because the upper house has been stripped of its blocking power on the ‘safe-country’ clause, only the detention-law changes could face revisions. The Interior Ministry says the reforms will enter into force “no later than 1 February 2026”, giving employers less than two months to update compliance protocols.
