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Residency in question

December 3, 2009

The fate of thousands of asylum-seekers in Germany is being decided at a meeting in Bremen. Although some have lived here for over a decade, their residency permits expire this month, leaving them open to deportation.

https://p.dw.com/p/KpVI
A mother in a headscarf collects her children from a kindergarden in 2006
Whole families with children born and raised in Germany could be deportedImage: AP

If the current rules run their course, up to 30,000 foreigners seeking asylum in Germany face the prospect of living illegally in the country, or being deported, as of January 2010.

Refugee and human rights advocates are calling for an overhaul of Germany's residency rules.

Temporary rules agreed upon in 2006 give thousands of rejected refugee applicants a deadline of December 2009 to find enough work to support themselves, and their dependents, without state assistance, or face the loss of their residency permits.

No work, no rights

Without residency permits, the asylum-seekers who cannot be deported could continue to live in Germany, but they would be denied access to legal employment and social services.

Some of those affected by the rules include people who have lived in Germany for over a decade, as well as families whose children were born in the country. Many are Afghans and ethnic Romas.

The problem is being exacerbated by the economic crisis which is making it that much harder to find employment, especially for migrants lacking German-language skills.

Delaying the problem

Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere and his counterparts from Germany's 16 states are seeking a solution to the problem at a two-day meeting in Bremen.

"It is the last chance to help these people," said the host of the conference, Bremen's Social Democrat interior minister, Ulrich Maeurer. He suggested ministers would extend the current temporary solution by another two years, as time is too short to agree upon an overhaul of the system.

"Whoever has been unable to support themselves alone will get another chance," said the Christian Democrat Interior Minister for Hesse state Volker Bouffier. "They will get another chance to find work within two years."

However, the Central Council for German Sinti and Roma said this would merely push the problem into the future.

"The minorities from Kosovo have been living here in part over 10 years. Their children were born and raised in Germany, they went to school here and generally do not speak Albanian or Serbian."

nw/dpa/AFP
Editor: Chuck Penfold

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