Germany Reforms Migration Counseling for Adult Immigrants (MBE) with Sharpened Profile and Defined Tasks
What changed
Germany is changing its Migrationsberatung für erwachsene Zugewanderte (MBE) programme. This is a counselling system for adult immigrants. The government funds this programme. The changes aim to make the MBE's purpose clearer. They will also define its responsibilities more precisely. The changes will help it fit better into Germany's wider local counselling and integration system. The government also wants to show what effect the programme has. It plans to improve how the MBE works with local councils and other counselling services. It will also look at how to use digital tools and Artificial Intelligence (AI) well. The MBE is not a new programme. It has existed for about 20 years. It started by helping people with integration courses. It has since become a much wider social and migration counselling system. In 2025 alone, the MBE worked through 915 counselling centres. It handled about 240,559 counselling cases. It helped 431,799 people, including family members. The changes in 2026 are important because Germany wants to redefine the MBE. This includes what the MBE should do. It also includes where its responsibilities begin and end. It covers how it works with other services. And it covers how to show its effectiveness.
The detail
Policy history
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