Germany Awaits Hundreds of Thousands of Refugee Family Members

According to assessments by the German government, in the near future approximately 200,000 to 300,000 citizens from Syria and Iraq will travel to Germany to join family members who have applied for asylum and whose applications have been approved.

This assessment is based on the number of visas issued to refugee family members, expected future applications to the German government in this regard, and the recent positions taken by the German government. In this connection, the German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” has raised questions whose answers from the German government make expert assessments in this regard appear realistic.

Currently, waiting times to obtain visas at German embassies in various countries are very long. This time is seven months in Erbil, Iraq and 9 to 12 months in Beirut. However, the waiting time for obtaining a visa in Turkey has recently been reduced to one month.

A Major Challenge for the German Government

A German government official was quoted as saying that the historical dimensions of migration to Germany in 2015 have confronted the country’s Foreign Ministry with a major problem regarding the entry of family members of those whose asylum applications have been approved.

Investigating the files of these individuals and issuing visas to refugee family members, despite hiring new staff to handle these cases and streamlining the visa process, is still insufficient and has required a lengthy period of time.

German government officials have announced that since the beginning of the current year (2017), German representations in various countries have issued 17,000 visas to refugee family members. However, the German Foreign Ministry believes that the number of visa applicants will be significantly higher than this figure.

Objections to This Process

Under such circumstances, Luise Amtsberg, spokesperson for the German Green Party on refugee matters, has called on the government to resolve the visa issuance problem for these applicants as soon as possible by hiring more employees.

Ms. Amtsberg said on Sunday (July 9) to a reporter from the German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”: “The entry of family members of Syrian and Iraqi citizens whose asylum applications have been approved in Germany is proceeding with great difficulty.”

Source: DW