SEEKING ASYLUM IN GERMANY

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing every day. What is true or good advice now can rapidly become out-of-date, so it’s important to check sites that are updated regularly. Here’s a general guide for migrants and refugees in Germany by Marion MacGregor In Germany, the spread and containment of the virus and the rules of conduct can be different from state …

The FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V.  is offering a free digital empowerment training program to improve the media competence of women migrants and refugees in the city. The course, which begins on 12 August, aims at improving the computer and language skills of the participants, who will learn how the Internet, computer and smartphone work and how they can use these technologies independently …

Roughly 1.83 million people seeking protection were registered in Germany last year, the Federal Office of Statistics said Thursday.  Compared with 2018 the total number rose by 3%, or 55,000 people, reflecting the smallest yearly increase since 2012, according to the statistics office. The figures refer to people seeking protection on international, humanitarian or political grounds. They include asylum-seekers with …

A man has been charged to the Aschaffenburg district court on Thursday (16 July) for having called for the commission of a criminal offence on a website on the subject of “citizen asylum”. The accused man from Hanau is listed as the person responsible in the imprint of the website, as the court and public prosecutor’s office confirmed on Wednesday. …

For the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic, a group deportation flight took off from Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday (14 July). On board the plane to Islamabad in Pakistan were 19 Pakistani nationals who had been deported mainly from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. This was confirmed by the federal police at Frankfurt Airport to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. …

The police of North African countries to prevent refugees from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. EU Interior Ministers and their North African counterparts have agreed. Amnesty sharply criticises agreement. Europe is also relying on African police to stop refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior announced in Berlin, the interior ministers of EU countries and North African …

  Will you be sent back to Italy if you had your fingerprints taken there, but then applied for asylum in another EU country? What happens if you are to be deported under the Dublin Regulation but you refuse? We put these questions and more to a number of experts, including German lawyer Albert Sommerfeld. Marion MacGregor reports The Dublin …

As Germany grapples with the coronavirus crisis, Chuks Lewis Ehiwario,  migrant rights activist and Vice Chairman, Foreigners Advisory Council of the city of Kassel, makes a case for refugees and asylum-seekers whose situation seems to be forgotten in the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic: —– Today, our way of life has changed because of COVID-19 and the …

African migrants should be offered temporary work permits in exchange for a cash deposit, a German panel of experts has said. They say the measure would reduce illegal immigration and encourage migrants to return home. Germany should allow migrants from Africa to pay a cash deposit to obtain temporary German work visas, a panel of migrations experts proposed in a …

Nearly half of the roughly 600 people at a refugee camp in Germany have tested positive for the new coronavirus (Covid-19). The number of cases among residents of the country’s initial reception facility (Landeserstaufnahmeeinrichtung or LEA) in the town of Ellwangen, which has been under quarantine, increased from seven to 251 within two weeks. The town is situated in Baden-Wurttemberg, …

Many migrants living in asylum shelters in Germany have tested positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19). Strict social distancing measures to combat the virus outbreak are hard to adopt in centres where people live together in tight spaces, reports Charlotte Hauswedell Germany has imposed strict rules on social distancing, and some federal states have ordered lockdowns in a bid to prevent …

According to a ruling by the Osnabrück Social Court (Sozialgericht), asylum-seekers can have their cash benefits cut if they have already applied for asylum in another EU country Cities and counties may reduce cash benefits to an asylum-seeker according to a ruling by the Osnabrück Social Court if they have already applied for asylum in another country. The court in …

The head of the fast-food chain McDonald’s in Germany says refugees should be offered more certain future prospects. Holger Beeck also said that he could not understand why well-integrated migrants are deported. McDonald’s has employed more than 5,000 refugees since 2015, the company’s CEO in Germany, Holger Beeck, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. “These are people who came to (McDonald’s), …

Germany plans to deport more Nigerians this year, according to a new report by the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle or DW. The government says there’re about 12,000 Nigerians in the country whose asylum applications have been rejected and have been asked to leave the country. Moreover, more than 20,000 cases filed by Nigerians are yet to be concluded. Going by …

Germany’s federal police chief said a lack of pre-deportation facilities is hampering the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and illegal foreigners to third-countries. Germany is struggling to deport rejected asylu-seekers, the country’s top police chief said on Wednesday. Federal police chief Dieter Romann blamed a lack of pre-deportation facilities for deportations not being carried out. Speaking to Germany’s Funke media group, he said …

The Embassy of Nigerian in Germany has denied issuing travel documents indiscriminately for the deportation of failed Nigerian asylum-seekers from the country. Alhaji Mohammed Bello Musa Anka, Minister for Consular & Immigration, explained that before an Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) is issued the recipient must have been interviewed by officials of the embassy to ascertain that they’re indeed Nigerians and …

Last year, Nigeria was one of the main countries of origin of asylum-seekers in Germany. Against this background, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung invited German and Nigerian officials to a technical roundtable discussion in Berlin on Thursday. Among others, the experts discussed how to make rejected Nigerian asylum-seekers leave Germany voluntarily and explore possible solutions to irregular migration from their country. Femi Awoniyi, …

"There are massive deficiencies at certain locations, which results in asylum applications being rejected in large numbers ... all those seeking protection must find equal opportunities throughout Germany."

“Many of the deportees roam about in Lagos and are homeless because no provisions had been made by the Germans or our own government for their dignified reception”

In Europe, everyone, including refugees, asylum-seekers and those with a tolerated stay have the right to a payment account with basic features. A look at the ins and outs of opening a bank account in Germany and everything that goes with it.