MIGRATION

The German government has issued a strong rebuttal to Turkey’s claim that ‘the door is open’ to Europe. Thousands of people have rushed to the land and sea borders between Turkey and Greece, but few have managed to cross. Turkey’s announcement last week that it would open its borders with Greece to migrants trying to enter Europe has resulted in …

Last year, Germany issued more visas for people from outside the EU than in 2018. Above all, more people were given a visa for the purposes of employment. According to Germany’s foreign ministry, the country issued around 2.29 million visas in 2019 – slightly more than in the previous year (2.17 million). The main countries of origin of the recipients …

A tragic shipwreck off the coast of Libya last month and more than a dozen other recent fatalities elsewhere have pushed the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea to 20,014 since 2014, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. IOM stands for International Organisation for Migration, a UN agency. “The disappearance and presumed drowning of at least 91 people reported missing …

Amid fighting in Syria, some 13,000 people were seeking to cross into Greece from Turkey on Saturday evening (29 February), prompting Greece to close the border and call for EU talks. Europe seems to be under the threat of new waves of irregular migration which could assume the proportion of the 2015 crisis when hundreds of thousands of migrants and …

Fears about coronavirus are now also beginning to affect migrants and refugees: the German interior ministry is taking measures to contain the virus — including a suspension of all returns to and from Italy under the Dublin regulation. Sertan Sanderson reports Germany has suspended the return of migrants to or from Italy under the provisions of the Dublin Regulation for …

On 14 February 2020, the Council of Europe´s Education Department launched a toolkit aimed at integrating refugees as teaching staff or visiting experts into higher education institutions. The “CoLAB Toolkit” presents inclusive practices on how to best integrate refugees based on their competences and qualifications into the academic environment. The toolkit is based on the lessons learned from the project CoLAB implemented …

The European Union has warned that it could impose restrictive visa implementation rules on Nigeria, if it failed to co-operate in the readmission of its nationals deported from EU member countries. A restrictive visa regime would make obtaining visas to EU countries more difficult for Nigerian applicants. The EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms Virginie Battu-Henriksson, said …

As Egypt suffers an economic downturn, migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan countries are experiencing growing abuse and violence. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is trying to intervene, making skin-deep reassurances. Sertan Sanderson reports ​The mega-city of Cairo has long established itself as a key destination for many refugees in the region. People fleeing civil war in Syria and in Libya have …

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), …

A new law designed to attract skilled foreign workers from non-EU countries will come into force on 1 March. It is supposed to make it easier for professionals to migrate to Germany for work. A look at the new legislation and what it means for prospective migrants

The Greek government unveiled a plan to build sea barriers across the Aegean Sea in a bid to prevent irregular migrants crossing to the Greek islands from Turkey in a bid, according to analysts, to call the bluff of Turkish President Erdogan, who has repeatedly threatened to send millions of refugees to Europe. Greece’s defence ministry published a call for …

As a new labour migration law is set to enter into force, the federal government has approved an integration plan under which prospective migrants will be offered language lessons and information about Germany in their home countries. The federal government wants to prepare potential migrants for life in Germany already in their home countries. This is according to the National …

Originally titled ‘Evanesce’, Berlin-based legal scholar and creative author Nelly Sarpong writes on a fictional precarious journey across the Mediterranean in a rickety boat overfilled with African migrants, revealing the perils faced by thousands of migrants every year in their quest for better life in Europe.

The Trump administration has issued a new rule  instructing United States consular officials to deny pregnant women visas unless they can prove “to the satisfaction of the consular officer” either that they are not traveling to the US to give birth, or that they have a legitimate medical reason to give birth in the country. In the latest immigration control measure, the United …

According to new figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the population of the country stood at 83.2 million at the end of 2019 – 200,000 more than a year earlier. The population figure represents a new high, Destatis said even though the population growth was much smaller than in the years 2013 to 2018. The agency also revealed …

Roman Catholic priest Father Mussie Zerai, president of the humanitarian organization Habeshia and pastor to migrants who arrive in Italy, has sent out a dramatic ‘SOS’ from migrants allegedly being held in detention centers in Libya, where they live in appalling conditions but are also exposed to danger as different factions in the country’s civil war battle for control. “We continuously …

A new law (Skilled Worker Immigration Act or Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) that facilitates the recruitment of skilled workers from non-EU countries will enter into effect on 1 March. Germany is currently suffering from labour shortages in many sectors, including health care. Caritas has however warned that the needs of the countries where nurses would be recruited should be considered in the implementation …

Nearly 1,300 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean in 2019, the United Nations agency for migration has said in a statement. The 1,282 drownings were 44% down on 2018, it said. The number of deaths since 2014 was now 19,164, International Organization for Migration reported. The Mediterranean in 2019 claimed the lives of nearly 1,300 migrants who were attempting to reach …

Norway says it will take 600 asylum-seekers recently evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centres. The Norwegian immigration minister told the media that his country wants to stop the sometimes deadly smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea. Charlotte Hauswedell/InfoMigrants reports “For me it is important to send a signal that we will not back smuggling routes and cynical backers, …

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 …