1 in 4 migrants want to leave Germany. I am one of them.

Why has Germany gone from attracting global talent to experiencing a considerable exodus of migrants?

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After over a year of excruciating bureaucracy, I finally became naturalised as a German citizen. This is the so-called “vorläufiger Personalausweis” (temporary identification card), which was issued while I wait for my artistic name to be approved by the competent authority.

According to a new study, 1 in 4 migrants do not want to stay in Germany. An important social indicator that is not making the headlines is that these 25% of leavers are not just “any” migrants—they are skilled workers. The published study (in German) can be found here.  The research interviewed 50,000 people born abroad who immigrated to Germany between the ages of 18 and 65, and excludes asylum-seekers who do not yet have recognised residence status in Germany. The survey period ran from December 2024 to April 2025.

Just the other day I ran into a friend at the supermarket, someone who is originally a French national and has been living in Germany for over 11 years. It seems that at every chance one has to talk about Germany with another migrant, it is never really about the positive aspects of the country, but more about how unfriendly, difficult and honestly disheartening German culture can be.

But beware, dear reader, I’m not trying here to engage in the ever-so-common German-bashing phenomenon. I am more interested in debunking a few myths about German society that are especially sold to migrants as vantage points. First of all, no, Germany is not as “weltoffen” (open-minded) as a lot of Germans claim it to be. In my experience living in Berlin, which alone should be a representation of multiculturalism—but fails to be in many aspects—there is a lot more provinciality and conservatism embedded in German society than most Germans would like to admit. 

While I can very much be considered guilty and perceived as acculturated by the widely recognized German habit of overtly complaining (jammern), I am quite grateful for everything I have achieved in this country. Germany is safe, the healthcare system works (despite having to wait sometimes months for an appointment at specialised doctors), and education is—with exception of a few German states—free of tuition.

I will start my rant, though, by naming a few key aspects of the job application process in Germany, as well as from the German job market that I have experienced myself, and I will tell you why I find it to be mired with a certain facet of German marketing that has been internationally known for luring migrants to Germany on false prospects of prosperity. Take, for example, this recent report from the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) depicting how many Indian nationals are promised opportunity by coming to study at private higher education institutions in Germany, only to see themselves stuck in debt spirals that lead to them having to take jobs in delivery services, all whilst paying for pricy housing costs.

One key aspect that I had to learn myself during the job application process in Germany is that the Equal Opportunity Hiring (EOH) carried out in Germany is very much a front supposed to create an image of fairness, but that in reality does not truly follow through its own premises. Germans even have a term for it (as many other languages do, as well): Vitamin B, i.e. “B” as in Beziehung (relationships and connections), denoting the personal contacts, acquaintances or networking used in order to obtain a job or gain advantages in the hiring process.

A second aspect I had to understand in this matter is that what most companies in Germany name as Migrationshintergrund (migration background) in their alleged Equal Opportunity Hiring did not specifically apply to me until after I had successfully gained German citizenship. As a migrant on a temporary permission to work, most German companies will consider a risk to hire someone who comes from another culture, unless they have a proven track of having been legitimised by their own human resources system: either a permanent contract already acquired from the moment that person set foot in Germany, or at least . Something has got to give.

Even Google AI seems to have a (maybe inadvertently) humorous take on what it means to apply to a job in Germany with a Migrationshintergrund, as this was its response: Bei Bewerbungen mit Migrationshintergrund liegt der Fokus auf perfekten Unterlagen (keine Fehler!), dem authentischen Hervorheben eigener Stärken, eventuell Sprachförderung und dem mutigen Erzählen der eigenen Geschichte, da Diskriminierung vorkommen kann, aber auch die Vorteile (Resilienz, Motivation) betont werden sollten, wobei manche Unternehmen anonymisierte Bewerbungen nutzen [“For applications with a migrant background, the focus is on perfect documentation (no mistakes!), authentically highlighting one's own strengths, possibly language support, and courageously telling one's own story, as discrimination can occur, but the advantages (resilience, motivation) should also be emphasised, with some companies using anonymous applications”]. Maybe this is problematically stressing how foreigners should rise up, be resilient and keep excelling, even if the environment around them supports nothing in that direction?

You might notice, if ever applying for jobs in Germany, that every job announcement comes with a disclaimer at the end that might look like this: Wir ermutigen insbesondere Frauen, Menschen mit Behinderung und mit Migrationshintergrund zu einer Bewerbung (We particularly encourage women, people with disabilities and people with a migrant background to apply). As a matter of fact, this phrasing, and its numerous variations, have become somewhat of a motto in German human resources departments, something like a mantra—but a mantra that is being chanted without intention or purpose. 

German economist Ulrike Malmendier from the German Council of Economic Experts, for example, makes the absurd claim while being interviewed by the German international public service broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), that Germany does not have enough workforce to supply the labour hours needed to improve German economy. I have met many migrants—myself included—who hold master’s or doctoral degrees from German higher education institutions yet have been forced to work in the service industry, for example in cleaning, customer support, or gastronomy.

What remains largely absent from public discussion is the apparent mismatch between available job openings, workers’ willingness to fill them, and the alignment of required skills with those currently present in the labour market. I speak here from a largely conjectural standpoint and have not conducted academic research on this topic; however, based on my experience searching for full-time, non-freelance positions since March 2023, many German companies appear unwilling—or unable—to remunerate workers in line with their skill sets. Instead, they seem to be developing hiring strategies that allow them to recruit qualified professionals without committing to fair pay or equal opportunity.

I can corroborate this by the sheer number of Volontariat (trainee) and Werkstudent (working student) jobs that have been rolling out, especially from cultural institutions in Berlin. When you come to think of it, that is actually a clever strategy: hiring less-trained workers, albeit willing ones, and getting the best out of the deal, as they are paid less than regular workers while performing the same tasks.