German cabinet halves Western Balkans work quota to 25,000 despite opposition from seven states

Germany's federal cabinet on Wednesday approved a regulation that would cut the yearly quota for workers from six Western Balkan countries in half, from 50,000 to 25,000 first-time approvals, starting January 1, 2027. The change still needs the consent of the Bundesrat, the chamber of Germany's 16 states. According to the cabinet paper, seven states oppose it, and together they hold 34 of the chamber's 69 votes.

The so-called Western Balkans rule has let people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia take jobs in Germany since 2016 without a recognized vocational qualification, as long as they have a job offer or contract. The quota was doubled to 50,000 only in mid-2024. The new cut was agreed in the coalition deal between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, and the labor ministry says the idea came from the conservative Union. The Federal Employment Agency, the main employers' federation, and building, hotel and logistics groups all asked the government to drop it.

Quotations from German-language sources in this article are 567politics translations.

What the cabinet approved

The regulation is the ninth amendment to Germany's Employment Ordinance. The draft text, published during the consultation by the Bavarian employers' association vbw, changes one number. In Section 26(2) of the ordinance, "50,000" becomes "25,000." The change takes effect on January 1, 2027. The draft says the coalition committee decided on July 1, 2026, to carry out the coalition agreement's plan on that date, and it lists "None" under alternatives.

The draft gives the government's reason in two sentences. "Labor migration independent of qualifications is to be reduced," it says. It adds that the smaller quota "helps to give greater weight to domestic potential when filling vacant positions." The draft stresses that other legal routes stay open. Citizens of the six countries can still come as recognized skilled workers under Sections 18a and 18b of the Residence Act.

The draft also puts a figure on the paperwork saved. It expects 25,000 fewer visa applications and work permit requests a year. It estimates that the Federal Employment Agency, known by its German initials BA, would spend about €1.48 million less a year on approvals. It says the change would cut the administrative burden on federal, state and local offices by about €2.8 million a year.

A spokesperson for the labor ministry confirmed the cabinet decision on Wednesday, n-tv reported. At the government's regular press conference, deputy spokesperson Steffen Meyer did not give reasons beyond the coalition agreement. He said it was clear that Germany needs "immigration, especially into the labor market," and that the government was also making things easier in other areas.

What the cabinet paper says about the critics

Labor Minister Alexander Schweitzer of the SPD sent the regulation to cabinet with a cover letter that lists its opponents at length, according to a Reuters report based on the document. They include the large business federations, the National Regulatory Control Council, the BA and seven states.

"Despite criticism from associations and federal states, the project is to be pursued after consultation with the Federal Chancellery," the cover letter says, as quoted by Reuters. The Federal Chancellery is the office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU. The wording places part of the responsibility for going ahead on the chancellor's office.

According to the cabinet paper, the seven opposing states include Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Hesse. Reuters did not name the other three, and 567politics has not seen the full list. Together the seven hold 34 votes. A regulation of this kind needs an absolute majority of 35 votes in the Bundesrat. That means the government would have to win every one of the other nine states. State governments usually abstain when their coalition partners disagree, and an abstention counts the same as a no vote.

Several of the opposing states are led or co-led by the same parties that sit in the federal coalition. Bavaria is governed by the CSU. North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse are led by the CDU, and Lower Saxony by the SPD. The vote will test whether state interests in construction and tourism outweigh party loyalty on a migration measure. 567politics tracks the stability of the federal government in its market on whether the CDU/CSU–SPD coalition will break before 2027.

How the rule is used

The quota is not a cap on how many people from the region live or work in Germany. It limits how many first-time approvals the BA can give each year under this one route.

Demand has been higher than the quota. In its comments on the draft dated October 15, the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) says the 2025 quota of 50,000 was used up by the end of November 2025. The BA told reporters that the quota was not enough for all applications in 2025 and will again run out early in 2026, according to Handelsblatt.

The BA's figures cover all citizens of the six countries, not only those who came through this route. According to the agency, as reported by Handelsblatt, about 546,000 of them held jobs subject to social insurance in Germany. The agency says about 53% of them work at least at the level of a skilled worker, and about 45% of those skilled workers are in jobs with staff shortages.

The table below sets out the main facts in the dispute.

The BDA says almost 20% of all first residence titles for work migration in 2024 were issued under the Western Balkans rule. 567politics has not checked that share against the official migration statistics.

The case for the cut

The government's case rests on the coalition agreement and the draft's reasoning. It wants to reduce work migration that does not depend on qualifications and to steer employers toward people already in Germany. The labor ministry told ZDFheute that the cut was put in the coalition agreement at the Union's request. The Union's view, the ministry said, is that jobless people in Germany should be the first to fill open jobs.

Detlef Seif, a CDU member of the Bundestag who speaks for his group on the interior committee, set out that reasoning in a written statement to ZDFheute. "Many of the vacant positions are not entered into job placement, because recruiting workers via the Western Balkans rule is easier for employers," he wrote. In other words, he argues that the rule lets firms bypass the domestic job market.

The cut is one of several migration and public order measures debated in Berlin this autumn. Earlier this week, 567politics reported on a CDU proposal on joint liability for riot damage, part of the same broader debate on public order and migration.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has gone further in the past. In a 2021 Bundestag motion, summarized by the Bundestag's press service, the party called for the rule to be withdrawn "with immediate effect." It argued that Germany should first bring people who had lost their jobs in Germany back into work and reduce "immigration into the social systems." 567politics found no new statement on Wednesday's decision from the party, which is co-led by Alice Weidel.

The case against the cut

Business groups say the rule works and should be kept or widened. The BDA's October 15 comments call it "a success story." "It is wrong to halve the quota," the federation wrote. It argues the quota should be scrapped altogether, so that jobs for which "suitable candidates already exist" do not stay empty. It says worries about migration into the welfare system are "unfounded," because a visa under this route requires a job contract and enough income. It also notes that the six countries are in talks to join the European Union, and calls the cut "a step in the wrong direction" given Germany's support for that process.

The BA itself, a federal agency, took the same side. "A halved quota will weaken a successful immigration model, worsen the shortage of skilled workers and make it harder for companies to find new workers," said Vanessa Ahuja, a member of the BA's board, as quoted by Handelsblatt.

Construction groups say they would be hit hardest. Tim-Oliver Müller, the chief executive of the Federation of the German Construction Industry, said in a statement on Wednesday that "almost 9,000 urgently needed workers will be missing at a stroke." He said many of them do steel and concrete work, skills that are "hardly available any more" on the domestic market. He added that 17,000 construction workers retired last year alone. "They do not displace domestic workers, they keep our building sites running," he said.

The Federation of Medium-Sized Construction Companies (BVMB) linked the cut to the government's own spending plans. "Whoever halves the quota for workers from the Western Balkans now is pulling the rug out from under the construction and infrastructure offensive," said its managing director, Michael Gilka. He called for the quota to stay at 50,000 and for visa processing to be centralized and digital. The government has set up a special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality and is pushing faster housing approvals through its "Bau-Turbo," which 567politics reviewed after its first year.

ZDFheute spoke to Wolfgang Schubert-Raab, who runs a construction firm with more than 220 staff in Upper Franconia and has hired ten people through the rule. He called the cut "completely wrong." He disputed Seif's argument. "I would not say that I would prefer staff from the Western Balkan states to German staff," he said. His problem, he said, is that there are no suitable people on the domestic job market.

What the evidence shows and what it does not

Both sides make claims that the public record only partly settles.

The government's premise is that unfilled jobs could be taken by people who are now unemployed in Germany. The draft regulation does not estimate how many of the 25,000 lost approvals would be filled by domestic jobseekers instead. 567politics found no government study that measures this. Seif's point that employers skip the job placement service is an argument about employer behavior. It has not been tested in any study cited by the government.

The critics' figures come mostly from the BA and from business groups. The BA's employment data are official statistics, but they cover all citizens of the six states. They do not isolate people who came through this rule. The construction industry's estimate of 9,000 lost workers is its own calculation. The Central Association of the German Construction Trades, a separate group, gave ZDFheute a similar estimate of 9,000. 567politics has not seen the method behind it.

There is also a question of timing. The cut applies to new approvals only. People already working in Germany under the rule keep their status, and renewals and job changes continue. The draft expects about 8,333 fewer requests for job changes and 8,333 fewer extension requests each year as a knock-on effect.

The Bundesrat vote and other options

The regulation now goes to the Bundesrat, which must vote on it before it can take effect on January 1. If it fails to win 35 votes, the quota stays at 50,000. The government could also change the text to win over states, for example by delaying the start date.

Employers' groups have asked for more than a reversal. The BDA wants visa applications under the rule to be handled fully online through the Foreign Office's portal and centrally by the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs, instead of only at embassies in the six countries. It says that today, applications "usually take several months," mainly because of a lack of appointment slots.

The fight will also test how far the SPD-led labor ministry is willing to carry a measure that it says came from its coalition partner. Schweitzer's cover letter, as reported by Reuters, makes clear that the ministry heard the objections and went ahead after talking to the Chancellery.

Differing perspectives

Should Germany halve the yearly quota for workers from the Western Balkans?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Halve the quota to 25,000

  Who holds it: The federal government; CDU/CSU lawmakers such as Detlef Seif

  The government's draft says labor migration that does not depend on qualifications should be reduced and that a smaller quota gives more weight to domestic workers when jobs are filled. CDU lawmaker Detlef Seif argues that many vacancies are never sent to the job placement service because hiring through the Western Balkans rule is easier for employers. Skilled-worker routes stay open.

  In their words: Draft ninth ordinance amending the Employment Ordinance (via vbw) ↗

• Keep the quota at 50,000

  Who holds it: The Federal Employment Agency and construction groups

  The Federal Employment Agency says a halved quota would weaken a successful immigration model, deepen skills shortages and make hiring harder. The construction industry says almost 9,000 needed workers would be missing at once, many in steel and concrete work, while 17,000 builders retired last year. It says these workers do not displace domestic staff but keep building sites running.

  In their words: Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie ↗

• Scrap the quota altogether

  Who holds it: The Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA)

  The BDA calls the rule a success story and says halving it is wrong. It argues the quota should be abolished so that jobs with suitable candidates do not stay empty. It says fears of migration into the welfare system are unfounded because a visa needs a job contract, and that the cut clashes with Germany's support for the six countries joining the EU. It wants online, central visa processing.

  In their words: BDA statement on the draft, October 15, 2026 ↗