Federal Office for Migration
Family ties are the most important reason for moving
In 2020, almost 60,000 so-called third-country nationals moved to Germany for family reasons. Photo: Sophia Kembowski / dpa
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The corona pandemic slowed influx to Germany in 2020. The main country of origin of immigrants in the first Corona year was Romania.
Family reasons were the numerically most important reason for non-EU citizens to move to Germany in 2020, at 15.9 percent.
This emerges from a report by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), which is to be discussed in the cabinet this Wednesday and is available to the German Press Agency.
The number of asylum applications continued to decline in 2020, also due to the pandemic. 102,581 people applied for asylum for the first time, after 142,509 initial applications in 2019. The asylum figures for 2021 are expected to be published this week.
The domestic political spokesman for the Union faction, Alexander Throm, was already alarmed. “With around 170,000 asylum applications in Germany by the end of November 2021, more applications than in 2019 before the pandemic,” said the CDU politician. The projects in the field of migration policy described in the coalition agreement of the Ampel parties with the expansion of asylum seekers and health services, the expansion of the right to stay for those obliged to leave the country, the expansion of family reunification and the introduction of the so-called change of lane from asylum to gainful migration would become even more Asylum applications.
As the Migration Report 2020 further states, 58,022 so-called third-country nationals moved to Germany for family reasons. With around ten percent, people from Kosovo formed the largest group here. According to the report, 29,725 non-EU citizens came into the country for the purpose of employment. 17,083 people from non-EU countries came to study in Germany.
Due to the corona pandemic and the associated travel restrictions, the number of people moving to Germany was significantly lower overall than in previous years. In 2020, around 220,000 more people moved in than left Germany.
“Often out of the public eye, the migration activity in Germany is due in particular to European internal migration and immigration and emigration between the
European states », writes the new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD) in her foreword. It is positive that the Federal Republic has established itself as an attractive destination, especially for people who want to study and work in this country, as well as for EU citizens.
In 2020, with 15.7 percent, Romania was the main country of origin of immigrants, as in previous years, followed by Poland (8.7 percent) and Bulgaria (6.1 percent). From 2004 to 2020, the number of Romanian citizens in this country rose from around 73,400 to around 800,000 Romanians, according to the report.