Language and integration courses are a way of familiarising yourself with the German language and bureaucracy under guidance and in a community.
Successfully completing an integration course and sufficient language skills make it much easier to find a job, deal with the authorities and generally integrate into your new environment.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is responsible for managing and authorising integration courses. For this purpose, applications to attend an intensive course must be sent to the relevant BAMF field office. Sometimes the various providers will take care of the application for you. It is therefore best to ask the institution you have chosen.
BAMF Saxony field office:
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge
Referat 51E
Otto-Schmerbach-Straße 20
09117 Chemnitz
Website: www.bamf.de
Applying to participate in an integration course:
Participating in an integration course is not obligatory. You can, for example, also just take the German Test for Immigrants (DTZ). Participation is highly recommended, however, as it improves your chances in the job market hugely by proving your language skills and it also facilitates integration.
If you fail a course unit, you can of course repeat the language course and examination, but you will have to finance this yourself.
In addition to the integration courses provided by BAMF, there are other ways to improve your language skills together with others. You will find information on this topic here.