Series "Sustainable prospects to stay": I work therefore I am! Rights to stay in the field of tension between return and workfare policies

Since 2011, there have been various integration-based rights of residence that enable people to move from tolerated status to regular residence. However, these rights to stay are subject to numerous hurdles that make it difficult or even impossible for people to make use of these paths to regular residence status in an interplay of harsh legal regulations and social environments produced by return policies.In addition to the basic introduction to these integration-based rights to stay, this lecture will use a social-legal approach to show that these integration-based rights to stay filter people at a race-class intersection and thus contribute to the emergence of a racist neoliberal workfare rights to stay regime.
Speaker: Svenja Schurade(Research Associate in Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology at the University of Göttingen)

From the event series "Bleibeperspektive oder Flucht und Migration in Zeiten des Umbruchs in Deutschland" (April 24 to July 10, 2025)
Debates about migration are increasingly dominating kitchen table conversations and politics. At the same time, discussions are becoming increasingly emotionalized and fronts in society are hardening. The student project "Sustainable Perspective to Stay" at the University of Kassel aims to create the opportunity to take another look at the basic idea of asylum and asylum law. In addition to the legal perspective, there will be a strong focus on the current living environments of migrants. In this context, topics such as migration, work and social rights will be examined in the context of a restrictive migration policy. In addition to lectures, the series of events also includes a reading, two film screenings, a networking meeting and a workshop. Following the events, there will be an open space for discussion.

The series of events is organized and carried out by the project "Sustainable prospects to stay and participation in education for students with refugee experience" at the University of Kassel. Further information on the project can be found on the website: www.bleibeperspektive.com

Further events in the series