German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed with local government chiefs on Tuesday on a series of measures aimed at making Germany less attractive to migrants, due to come into force next year.
Measures to tighten Germany's immigration policy include cutting financial aid for migrants, with each foreigner arriving at an initial reception centre receiving food and accommodation, plus 182 euros in cash each month, to meet his or her personal needs.
A card will be introduced allowing migrants to buy what they need from shops by the end of January 2024, to prevent asylum seekers from sending their money back to their country of origin.
Asylum-seekers will have to wait 36 months instead of 18 months to benefit from the financial increase granted to them when they leave the initial reception centre under the new procedures, where asylum seekers were distributed over several dwellings and received monthly sums of 410 euros per person and 738 euros per couple, which after 18 months rose to 502 euros per person and 902 euros per couple.
Germany will also extend a measure announced last October to strengthen border checks with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland to limit the access of foreigners to its territory.
The new measures included speeding up the process of examining asylum claims, to last 6 months, including appeals to the court.
Municipalities responsible for receiving refugees have warned that their capacity is dwindling as the number of refugees increased last year with the arrival of one million refugees from Ukraine, as well as refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
The measures are expected to benefit the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which won two local ballots last month, especially as it achieved electoral successes by exploiting the asylum file, especially with federal states complaining about their inability to deal with more asylum seekers.