Young Skilled Migrants Are Leaving Germany: Why?

Germany has been successful in attracting young, highly qualified international workers to the country, but it has struggled to retain them.

Individuals aged 18 to 65 who had migrated to Germany up to April 2025 were asked why they decided to leave the country and which factors influenced their decision.

🎈A wide range of challenges are driving skilled young migrants away from Germany, including slow-moving bureaucracy, the lack of digitalization resulting in official correspondence still being conducted by mail, housing shortages, discrimination, insufficient support in finding employment, language barriers, inconsistent practices by public institutions, difficulties related to citizenship, residence permits and visas, as well as the failure to recognize foreign qualifications and lengthy equivalency procedures.

When these issues are combined with overlapping responsibilities and confusion between different authorities, bureaucracy—identified as one of the main problems—can turn into a difficult maze for migrants to navigate.

Around 60 percent of those leaving Germany return to their home countries, while 40 percent move to other countries. The most preferred destinations include Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Croatia.

For Germany, attracting international skilled workers is only part of the challenge; the much greater priority is ensuring that they choose to stay in the country.

Source: DW