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The case that has sparked debate in Germany: Deportations despite a labor shortage?

2024-12-27 18:19:52Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA OLIVER PIEPER
The case that has sparked debate in Germany: Deportations despite a labor
Center directors Andrea Wohlmacher and Tino Wohlmacher with the three Colombian assistant nurses

Ten Colombian nursing assistants would have to leave Germany at a time when they were so needed at a dementia center. A case that shows how difficult Germany is having with labor migration.

Andrea and Tino Wohlmacher should be popping the champagne corks now. They have just scored their first small victory in the German bureaucratic jungle of asylum applications, skilled worker immigration and deportations. But the operators of the care center for dementia patients in Wilstedt near Bremen are very busy at the end of the year and have no time to celebrate. 48 people are being treated at the center in Germany.

The ten Colombian nursing assistants who are employed there will not be deported, they are allowed to stay for the time being, with the permission initially granted because of the two or three years of professional training. Andrea Wohlmacher tells DW: "It's like a stone has been lifted from our hearts."

From asylum to employment?

The story of the ten Colombians is a good lesson in understanding how difficult it is still for Germany to attract and retain the urgently needed workers and at the same time clearly separate asylum and migration for employment reasons. The unskilled South Americans initially applied for asylum, but were rejected. They could therefore not switch to the skilled immigration procedure through a so-called “lane change” from a legal perspective. The threatening scenario: All Colombians would have to leave Germany – which would have meant that the center would have to be closed due to a lack of staff.

Andrea Wohlmacher was convinced. “I think we are the prime example of necessary migration. And this does not only apply to skilled workers. We have had a shortage of workers in Germany, especially in the nursing sector, for decades.” According to the German Nursing Council, there is already a shortage of around 115,000 professional nursing staff in full-time nursing positions. The market is empty, many hospitals, care homes for the elderly can only survive with staff from abroad.

The case goes all the way to Health Minister Lauterbach.

When their ten employees are threatened with eviction, the two managers of the health center turn to the public. They write an open letter to eight politicians, and even television crews appear in Wilstedt. 83,782 people sign a petition to the federal government. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach even receives it personally.

The case that has sparked debate in Germany: Deportations despite a labor
The petition is submitted to the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach

The case has sparked debate across Germany: How can well-integrated people who pay taxes and are there day and night for people in need have to leave the country? But there is also the other side of the coin: What kind of signal does Germany send abroad if rejected asylum seekers without proper training can stay in the country? The final decision now lies with the Special Commission of the state of Lower Saxony.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach promised to do everything possible that is legally permitted. "If we didn't have foreign nursing staff, we wouldn't be able to provide healthcare to the same extent in Germany," Lauterbach said, adding that a signal must be sent: "Foreign nursing staff are more than welcome here, because we depend on them and we have had very good experiences with them."

Reduction in asylum applications, increase in employment

Andrea Wohlmacher is certain that without public attention and political discussions, the fear of short-term deportation would still exist. Joachim Stamp, the federal government's special representative for migration agreements for almost two years, is the one who must ensure that skilled immigration to Germany takes place in an orderly manner, i.e. not through a possibly hopeless asylum application. Stamp has even recently held talks in the Colombian capital Bogota these days. "We want to reduce irregular migration and enable better management of migration for employment reasons. I have also made it clear publicly in the Colombian media that the path to the German labor market does not lie through asylum law, but only through the regular immigration of skilled workers," Stamp told DW.

Currently, 14,000 Colombians living in Germany are employed with social security contributions. There are also 3,500 students and postgraduates and around 500 employed as researchers. With a comprehensive migration partnership with countries such as Colombia, but also Georgia, Uzbekistan, Morocco and Kenya, Germany wants to promote regular migration for employment reasons and reduce the number of asylum applications, which have no chance of recognition for citizens of these countries./ DW


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