In the 1950s, recruitment agreements were concluded with Italy (1955), Spain (1960), Greece (1960), Turkey (1961), Morocco (1963), Portugal (1964), Tunisia (1965) and Yugoslavia (1968).

The first young guest workers also came to Wiesbaden [in the following, the masculine form also includes women as a collective term] and were mainly employed in the craft and industrial sector, e.g. at the Kalle-Albert, Rheinhütte and Dyckerhoff factories. However, numerous foreign workers were also needed in the construction and ancillary building trades, vehicle construction, the health sector and the municipal utilities. In some companies and facilities, foreigners made up 25 to 30 % of the workforce, the average being 5 %. While 7,342 foreign workers were employed in Wiesbaden in 1965, there were more than twice as many in 1973 (15,229).

Living together with the Germans in the early days of migration was not always easy. In addition to restrictive residence regulations, there were also socio-cultural integration problems. Almost all migrant workers came alone. It was not uncommon for four foreigners to live in one room with two bunk beds, a table and four chairs in the barracks-like company accommodation. As the living conditions were sometimes inhumane, protests were not infrequent.

The majority of migrant workers only wanted to work in Germany for a short time and build up their own existence in their home country. For most of them, this dream did not come true and many remained here. The recruitment freeze of 1973 led to an increase in family reunification. The economically motivated, provisional individual migration gradually turned out to be a permanent social family project. Whereas in 1955 there were only 3,000 people with foreign roots living in Wiesbaden, ten years later there were 10,000, with Italians, Spaniards, Greeks and Turks topping the list. The proportion of women was just under a quarter. In 1983, there were almost 32,000 migrants living in Wiesbaden. The provisional way of life and exclusion on the housing market meant that a family of several people had to live in a mostly overpriced 1- to 2-room apartment. While 176 foreign children attended Wiesbaden elementary school in 1966, by 1971 there were already 900 pupils from over 25 countries.

To make life in German society and living together with Germans easier, the first cultural meeting places were organized in the 1960s, such as the International Foreigners' Club in Wiesbaden.

Later, national-specific facilities were added. In 1963, the Catholic Center for Italians was founded at Friedrichstraße 7 with a pastoral counseling center, a welfare office, a club room and a small chapel. Club rooms for Spaniards were set up in the Kolpinghaus. In 1965, the Diakonisches Werk founded a meeting place for the 1,200 Greek guest workers in Wiesbaden in Moritzstraße. In 1970, the Croatian Center opened its doors on Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring. In 1971, the Turkish-German Cultural Association was founded, followed ten years later by the Turkish-Islamic Association in Oranienstraße. The Portuguese guest workers were given a cultural center on Michelsberg in 1974.

In order to solve the social problems, the "Assistente sociale" (welfare officer), in cooperation with the Caritas Association, assisted over 1,000 Italian seasonal workers in over 50 Wiesbaden companies with language problems, tax issues and matters relating to residence and employment law. Turkish and Yugoslavian workers were assisted at the counseling center of the Workers' Welfare Association. At the same time, discussion groups for Germans and non-Germans were organized in the courses for foreigners at the Wiesbaden Adult Education Centre. German lessons were given there and later at the International Federation for Social Work. The first library for foreigners was founded in 1974.

Although the guest workers' own initiatives and the efforts of the city of Wiesbaden were able to provide relief, not all social and cultural integration problems could be solved. In 1970, the city council therefore decided to form the first Foreigners' Advisory Council in Germany.

Many of the former migrant workers are now the fourth generation to live in Wiesbaden. On 31.12.2014, 96,270 people had a migration background (34.1% of the total population), including an increasing number of migrants from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. This resulted in a change in the order of countries of origin in 2014: 16,186 people came from Turkey, 6,593 from Poland, 5,172 from the Russian Federation, 4,965 from Morocco and 4,868 from Italy. Kazakhstan, Greece and Romania followed in the top eight. At the end of 2014, 51,856 people from over 100 nations had foreign citizenship.

The current cityscape proves that migrants have long been part of German society. Biebrich, for example, with its sizeable Greek community, but above all Wiesbaden's Wellritzstraße, is an example of the major social and cultural change. At the end of 2014, around 11.6% of Wiesbaden residents professed Islam.