
The wait for a work permit is shortened, the change of status is facilitated, the punishments for smugglers are toughened.
According to the new project-amendment approved by the German government on Wednesday from the regulation for changing the status from refugee to migrant worker, rejected asylum seekers who came to Germany until 31.12 will also benefit. 2022. They are given the opportunity to exit the status of rejected asylum seeker and enter the status of migrant worker with duldung. They receive the so-called Ausbildungsduldung or Beschäftigungsduldung, (which protects them from deportation). In the previous version of the law approved by the German government last year, people who came as refugees before August 31, 2018 had access to this change of status. The prerequisite for this is to have stayed in Germany for five years.
Steffen Hebestreit, the spokesman of the German governmentPhoto: Abdulhamid Hosbas/AA/picture alliance
As he announced on Wednesday in Berlin, the spokesman of the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, in order to provide employment to as many refugees as possible, the time that must be reduced a refugee has been working to obtain this status: from 18 to 12 months, as well as the number of working hours you must have worked to obtain this status: from 36 to 20 hours per week.
But the prerequisite to benefit is the provision of means of livelihood, the absence of links with extremist organizations and no criminal offences. For the latter, the German government approved a regulation for quick deportations last week
Thousands of Albanians with Duldung at the end of last year
The spokesman for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, said at the regular press conference that this is done to help the German economy, which continues to be in search of labor, but also to relieve the German municipalities that carry the main burden. of asylum seekers, whose number keeps growing.
Duldung: It is a temporary cancellation of deportation for humanitarian reasons or because the conditions in the country of origin have not matured. By the end of 2022, over 7,700 people from Albania, over 7,000 from North Macedonia and over 5,500 from Kosovo had this status in Germany.
According to a response from the German government given in August of this year to the AFD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, by the end of 2022, nearly 248,000 people with this status had been registered in Germany. Over ten percent of them come from the countries of the Western Balkans. where the first place is occupied by refugees from Serbia with over 11,900, followed by Albania with 7,700 and North Macedonia with over 7,000. The number of people from Kosovo and Duldung at the end of last year was nearly 5,000, as he learned DW from Germany's interior ministry. How many of them will benefit from this regulation is not yet known.
The waiting time for a work permit is shortened
The German government approved another relief for asylum seekers: reducing the waiting time for a work permit from six (for parents with children) and nine months (for people coming alone) to three, respectively, six months, for people living in centers waiting. But this does not benefit the asylum seekers from the countries of the Western Balkans, as their countries are considered safe third countries.
German official bodies assume that whoever seeks asylum in Germany from these countries abuses the social systems of Germany. In addition to the six countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, Ghana and Senegal are also considered safe countries. In the future, Moldova and Georgia will be added to this list.
Strong penalties for traffickers
Among other things, the government cabinet significantly increased the penalties for smugglers who bring migrants to Germany. It is planned that people who bring refugees to Germany in an organized manner. or who traffic weapons, or endanger the lives of minors are sentenced to over a year in prison and these offenses are considered crimes.
Germany significantly increases the penalties for smugglers who bring migrants to Germany
This also applies to those who try to bypass police checks by cutting the cord. The police and the public prosecutor's office, which will be responsible for this sector, will also be allowed to intercept their telecommunication devices.
When is it expected to be approved?
The new amendment, just approved by the center-left coalition government of the SPD, Greens and Liberals, is an additional regulation within the migration package approved in June by the German parliament. But asylum policy is the competence of the states, not the federation, so it is not yet known whether these rules will be implemented by all 16 German states. If this amendment will also be supported by the states with the participation of the opposition CDU/CSU, this is expected to be decided next Monday, in a joint meeting of the representatives of the German federal government with the prime ministers of the states. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit expressed optimism that the federal and state governments will work together on a comprehensive migration package next Monday./DW