Everyone who receives a letter from us (or, in the case of a follow-up survey, an email) can take part in the survey. Participation is entirely voluntary. You can withdraw your consent to being contacted at any time (see point 17). Unfortunately, it is not possible for other interested people who have not received an invitation to take part in the study.

Yes, the survey can be interrupted at any time. Your answers will be saved so that you can resume the survey later, starting from the point at which you interrupted it. Please note, however, that the surveys are only available for a certain period of time.

My Way in Germany is an online survey studying the lives of persons with a migration history over an extended period of time. This means that the respondents have the opportunity to take part in surveys over multiple years. These online surveys are conducted on a purely voluntary basis. As of today, there is only a limited number of studies asking people of an employment age living in Germany and abroad about their living and working conditions in this way.

The data collected will be used to investigate the influence of the current social and economic changes on the (employment) lives of people who have migrated to Germany. Our particular focus of interest are the working and living conditions, the social security situation as well as the social and political attitudes of people who have migrated to Germany. With this study, the Institute of Employment Research (IAB) is aiming to make a contribution to addressing the immediate requirement for information within the administrative and political sectors and to provide them with a sound basis for making informed decisions.

All responses from the online survey are processed electronically. Your information is stored anonymously as a matter of principle — that is, without your name or contact details. Afterwards, the responses of all participants are statistically analyzed. Using the combined data from all responses, percentages can be calculated and statistical analyses carried out. The results are reported in tables and charts. All studies published using the IMPa data can be found at https://iab.de/dossier/?id=265000&iab-beteiligte=&q=*&dokumententyp=Literaturhinweis&themenIds=22132&anzahl=20.

Your information from the surveys will be processed in compliance with the strict regulations of data protection and stored separately from your name and address. The Federal Employment Agency, represented by the Executive Board, Regensburger Str. 104, 90478 Nuremberg, is responsible for the processing of personal data in the context of this survey. The IAB is part of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and is entrusted with labour market and occupational research, which the BA is legally obliged to do (§ 280 SGB III – Third Book of the Social Code). In order to ensure the freedom of science and research protected by the Basic Law, the IAB is separated from the administrative area of the BA in terms of space, organisation and personnel (§ 282.5 of the Third Book of the Code of Social Law). For the processing of the data which, with your consent, will be supplemented by the data from the Central Register of Foreigners, the BAMF Research Centre, represented by the management of the Research Centre, Frankenstraße 210, 90461 Nuremberg, is responsible. The technical execution of the survey is carried out by the company Ingress as a contractor of the Institute for Employment Research. Ingress acts exclusively in accordance with the instructions of the Institute for Employment Research and is obliged to maintain strict confidentiality. For more information about Ingress, please visit: www.ingress.de. Within the Institute for Employment Research, only the participating researchers have access to the data from the survey. Here, too, all parties involved are contractually obliged to maintain the strictest confidentiality.

No! The study only pursues research objectives. The data will not be forwarded for the purposes of market research or advertising! The results of the study will be made available to other researchers, politicians, administrators and interested members of the general public.

All studies published using the IMPa data can be found at https://iab.de/dossier/?id=265000&iab-beteiligte=&q=*&dokumententyp=Literaturhinweis&themenIds=22132&anzahl=20.

If people agree to share information about their life situation in surveys, the researchers can better recognise and understand their needs and challenges. The more people take part in such research surveys, the more accurate and detailed the picture becomes of how the lives and work of immigrants in Germany are developing. Their support is therefore of considerable importance for being able to advise political decision-makers on the basis of research findings.

The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency. The central task of the Institute is to provide political stakeholders at all levels with advice on the basis of its research findings. The research and consulting activities of IAB are based on its legal mandate, as set out in Section 55 (1) of Book Two of the German Social Code (SGB II) and Section 280 and 282 (1 – 4) of Book Three of the German Social Code (SGB III). Further information about the Institute for Employment Research is available the website: www.iab.de

The study is funded by the Federal Employment Agency. The study is scientifically independent, which means that the Institute for Employment Research and the project staff involved are solely responsible for the contents of the study. The Federal Employment Agency has no influence on the configuration of the study.

Experience has shown that participants need different amounts of time to answer the questions. Answering a survey should take about 20 minutes on average.

As part of our study, we would like to invite you to take part in a survey approximately once a year. If necessary, we will also invite you to partake in other surveys at short notice.

If you have any further questions, please contact the corresponding researchers by email at: myway@iab.de.

Initial contact by the IAB:
The IAB is permitted to ask people to take part in surveys when the necessary information cannot be obtained from existing data. The IAB received your contact details from the administrative branch of the BA (which also includes the local employment agencies) or from a Jobcenter, and passed them on to the survey service provider Ingress on the legal basis of Art. 28 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – data processing on behalf of a controller.
Your contact details were originally collected by an employment agency or Jobcenter when you were a client there, or come from a report submitted by your (current or former) employer to social insurance (report under § 28a SGB IV). The BA and the Jobcenters transmit your contact details as well as data on your nationality to the IAB on the legal basis of § 282(5), (6) SGB III and § 55 SGB II. The BA and the Jobcenters are legally obligated to pass on contact details to the IAB, so your consent is not obtained for this.
Within the survey service provider Ingress, your contact details are used exclusively to carry out the survey and are deleted there at the earliest possible opportunity. The IAB is permitted to ask people to take part in surveys when the necessary information cannot be obtained from existing data. This is legally regulated in § 282(5) SGB III. Among other things, the BA stores employers' reports of employment periods to social insurance. The survey itself, as well as the merging of the data collected in the survey with data held or collected by the IAB or the BAMF, only takes place if you have previously given your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Follow-up survey:
Some time ago, you took part in our study "Mein Weg in Deutschland." This study is conducted by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg. During the last survey, you agreed that we may contact you again and provided us with an email address and/or phone number. We would therefore like to invite you to take part in the follow-up survey.

The IAB is permitted to ask people to take part in surveys when the necessary information cannot be obtained from existing data. The IAB received your contact details from the administrative branch of the BA (which also includes the local employment agencies) or from a Jobcenter, and passed them on to the survey service provider Ingress on the legal basis of Art. 28 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – data processing on behalf of a controller.
Your contact details were originally collected by an employment agency or Jobcenter when you were a client there, or come from a report submitted by your (current or former) employer to social insurance (report under § 28a SGB IV). The BA and the Jobcenters transmit your contact details as well as data on your nationality to the IAB on the legal basis of § 282(5), (6) SGB III and § 55 SGB II. The BA and the Jobcenters are legally obligated to pass on contact details to the IAB, so your consent is not obtained for this.

Please send us an e-mail stating your intentions to myway@iab.de. We will delete your data and will refrain from contacting you any further.