Talented Indians thought they could make Germany home, but many want to move on now

Germany is at the cross-roads of a “migration ambivalence”. To address its labour shortage and demographic deficits, Germany is increasingly positioning itself as a hub for global talent for highly skilled migrants. This puts Indians from STEM fields, research, academia and healthcare at the top of the chart.

However, growing anti-migrant sentiment fuelled by the rising popularity of the far right party, Alternative für Deutschland or AfD, does little to help Germany project a pro-migrant image for Germany.

While much of the focus of the country’s migrant policy has been on attracting talent and settling it in, more attention must be paid to retaining it.

Through my ethnographic research with Indian migrants that culminated in a monograph Stories of the Indian Immigrant Communities in Germany: Why Move?, I have focussed extensively on why Indian migrants are increasingly choosing Germany as an immigration destination.

Indians are currently the seventh-largest migrant group in Germany and the only immigrant community from outside Europe dominated by highly skilled, highly qualified migrants. Between 2010 and 2020, the total number of Indians in Germany (57.6% are white-collar immigrants) has increased from 42,000 to 1,59,000. In addition, the number of Indian students joining German universities has gone up approximately from 25,149 in 2022 to 33,753 in 2024.

Since then,...

Read more