Bureaucracy, Bottlenecks, and Bots: AI and Migrant Experiences at Germany’s Foreigners’ Authorities

How can AI provide a meaningful tool in migration management for the German government? Seeking highly-skilled migrants and overburdened by mass migration, the German government is turning to AI to generate solutions to bureaucratic overload in the Ausländerbehörden (ABH, the Foreigners’ Authorities), the Federal Republic's administrative system for managing the processing of migration. AI promises to ease the bureaucratic burden on civil servants, but can it improve migrants' experiences in their interactions with the ABH? And, critically for the German state, could it help convince highly-skilled workers to make Germany their home? Analyzing 530 Google reviews of six different ABH in 2025 uncovered a significant gap between the high-level political desire for skilled labor and the bureaucratic reality at the ABH visible to politicians and migrants alike, which could actively deter migrants from making Germany their home. Migrants are open to digital tools as a viable option to escape a state of perpetual waiting and inconsistent, sometimes unempathetic treatment by staff, provided they enhance transparency and agency rather than just serve state security interests.