One-Stop Government in Residence Law

With the Skilled Immigration Act , an important system of residence law has changed since March 1, 2020. Until then, the principle of "prohibition with permission reservation" applied: third-country nationals were only allowed to work if the Residence Act expressly permitted it or if the residence permit explicitly permitted employment. With the new version of Section 4a of the Residence Act, this system was reversed – the basic principle now applies: Anyone holding a residence permit may work, provided there is no legal prohibition . This brought practice into line with reality, as access to the labor market had generally been granted to residence permit holders for many years. The amendment to the law therefore did not represent a substantive expansion, but rather a linguistic simplification and the deletion of numerous special regulations.

What does “one-stop government” mean?

The so-called "one-stop government" principle has been in place in residence law since 2005: the immigration authorities make a single decision on both residence and employment. The aim was to make the process more efficient and more citizen-friendly. In practice, however, it remains a two-stage process because in most cases the Federal Employment Agency (BA) must be involved internally . In particular, the BA examines whether access to the labor market is possible under the legal requirements - and has sole decision-making authority in this regard. This means that even if applicants only receive a single notification from the immigration authorities, in many cases the BA actually decides on labor market access. It should be noted, however, that final permission to work can only come from the immigration authorities. Approval from the Federal Employment Agency is only an internal requirement for a work permit , but not a work permit in itself. For applicants - especially without legal assistance - this process is difficult to understand because there is no direct contact person at the BA.

Conclusion

The one-stop government principle in German residence law is intended to simplify access to work and residence for third-country nationals. In reality, however, it remains a two-stage process with the Federal Employment Agency playing a decisive role. Even if applicants receive a uniform decision, transparency is often lacking. The legal shift from a "permit reservation" to a "prohibition reservation" simplifies the legal text but changes little in substance – the complex interplay between the immigration authorities and the Federal Employment Agency remains.