The issue of migration has moved to the centre of party politics and policy making over the past years. Germany is a pertinent example of this trend: The official recognition of being a ‘country of immigration’ has triggered important changes to this country’s public debate, citizenship regulations and immigration/ integration policies. This panel will examine these developments with respect to a) Germany’s response to increasing numbers of asylum seekers over the past decades; b) post-perestroika ethnic immigration from the former Soviet Union to Germany; c) approaches to religious diversity in the German public school system and d) two papers addressing the structures and outcomes of Germany’s immigration and integration policy with a view to the dynamics of competitive party politics. The organizing idea of this panel is to identify key developments in Germany’s migration and integration regime and the actors driving them.