Return Assistance Act

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic data
Title: Law to encourage foreigners to return home
Short title: Return Assistance Act
Abbreviation: RückHG
Type: Federal Ordinance
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter: Social law
References : 89-9
Issued on: November 28, 1983
( BGBl. I p. 1377 )
Entry into force on: November 28, 1983
Last change by: Art. 268 of the Ninth Competency Adjustment Regulation of October 31, 2006 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2407 )
Effective date of the
last change: 		October 31, 2006
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The Return Assistance Act (RückHG) is a German law intended to encourage unemployed foreigners to leave the Federal Republic. Funding took the form of so-called return assistance . Applications for return assistance could be submitted until June 30, 1984. After this period the law had no practical relevance with regard to financial benefits. However, it is still in force today and gives foreigners interested in returning, regardless of nationality, a legal right to advice from the Federal Employment Agency ( § 7 RückHG). This advisory service is provided by the mobility advisors of the Central International Placement Services (ZAV) .

The Return Assistance Act was introduced as Article 1 of the Act to Promote the Return Readiness of Foreigners of November 28, 1983, which, in addition to the Return Assistance Act, contains other regulations and provisions related to foreigners. a. on social security, taxes, premiums and wealth creation.

Reasons, structure and regulations

Due to the 2nd oil price crisis and the 1982 recession, unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany rose from 3.8% in 1980 to 9.1% in 1983. The unemployment rate among foreign workers rose to 15%. The Federal Government therefore intended to encourage foreigners to return home through financial incentives. Only foreigners who were not married to a German citizen of a state with which the Federal Government had concluded agreements on the recruitment and employment of workers and who were not members of the European Communities (EC) were eligible.

The law provided for targeted financial return assistance and the early redemption of certain claims. Citizens from Yugoslavia , Morocco , North Korea , Portugal , Spain , South Korea , Turkey and Tunisia could receive return assistance amounting to 10,500 DM plus 1,500 DM per child if they were closed after October 30, 1983 to June 30, 1984 as a result of the closure of the whole company or of essential parts of the company or due to bankruptcy have become or become unemployed. The foreign employees also received return assistance if they were affected by short-time work in accordance with Section 9 of the Employment Promotion Act (AFG) at least six months before the application was submitted .

Workers from countries with which the Federal Republic of Germany so far no social security agreement (SVA) was (u. A. Portugal and Turkey), also received their contributions to the statutory pension insurance (GRV) reimbursed and were allowed without loss of state benefits through their savings and savings contracts ( housing bonus ) feature.

Effects

According to a report by the news magazine Der Spiegel on September 17, 1984 based on information from the Federal Ministry of Labor , around 150,000 foreign workers are said to have left the Federal Republic of Germany within the framework of the Return Assistance Act. The Berlin foreigner expert Nikolaus Stumpfögger , political scientist at Freie Universität, has determined that every second foreigner willing to return has also received compensation from his employer in at least the same amount as from return assistance. According to the scientist, the federal government just jumped “on a bandwagon” and only provided “state support for mass layoffs” for many foreign workers.

However, the Return Assistance Act relieved the statutory pension insurance by around DM 1.5 billion, since foreigners were only paid the non-interest-bearing employee contributions they had made themselves, but not the employer's share , which was left to the pension insurance. The previously insured foreign employees forfeited their entitlement to retirement benefits with the one-off payment of an average of DM 10,000 to DM 15,000.

Financial effects for the years 1983–1984 according to calculations by the Federal Ministry of Labor when introducing return assistance:

  • Costs of DM 220 million for return assistance payments including a flat-rate child allowance
  • Costs of DM 30 million for the early repayment of savings payments without prejudice to premiums ( Housing Construction Premium Act ), which will again lead to relief in the following years
  • Statutory pension insurance costs of DM 680 million, which lead to relief in the following years, including 1985–1987 by DM 370 million (the federal government estimated the long-term relief for pension benefits at two to 2.5 billion at the time DM)
  • Savings in unemployment insurance and short-time work benefits of DM 83 million
  • Child benefit savings of DM 42 million; further savings 1985–1987 were put at 195 million DM.

The Federal Constitutional Court later ruled in a decision of the 3rd Chamber of October 29, 1990 on the issue of the issue of a residence permit after claiming return assistance under the Return Assistance Act (RückHG) that the early reimbursement of pension insurance contributions specified the negative barrier of § 2 para. 1 Foreigners Act (AuslG) old version and thus persons who have made use of return assistance are "fundamentally excluded by law from permanent residence in the federal territory". It was criticized as questionable that the "generous gift" of a transfer of the pension insurance contributions previously paid by the employer to the state should prevent future residence in the federal territory.

The term "negative barrier" in the Aliens Act (AuslG): The negative barrier does not prevent the issuing of a residence permit if a foreigner who has legally entered the country to visit decides to continue his stay for another purpose that requires a visa.

Refugee crisis in Europe

In connection with the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015 , individual states are making a financial bonus available to refugees returning voluntarily. See: Return funding .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BGBl. I p. 1377
  2. ↑ Jutta Hinrichs / Elvira Giebel-Felten: The development of the job market 1962-2001 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 2002
  3. ↑ Die Zeit 5/11/1984: Journey without return  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zeit.de  
  4. ↑ IAB - Chronicle of Labor Market Policy (PDF; 295 kB)
  5. ↑ "Take your bonus and go away". In: Spiegel Online. August 22, 1983. Retrieved January 20, 2018 .
  6. ↑ BVerfG, decision of October 29, 1990 , Az. 2 BvR 303/89, guiding principle.
  7. ^ Klaus Sieveking: Status rights of foreigners. Legal articles on freedom of movement, social security, education and political participation , habilitation thesis, University of Bremen, 1992 (PDF; 2.4 MB, version archived on November 25 in the Internet Archive ) p. 22.
  8. ↑ BVerwG, judgment of September 4, 1986 , Az. 1 C 19.86, full text = BVerwGE 75, 20 (abandonment of previous Senate case law)
  9. ↑ previously VGH Baden-Württemberg, judgment of 8 October 1985 , Ref. 13 S 1957/85, full text.