Somehow it all doesn’t add up. Germany is dependent on the immigration of skilled workers, especially in nursing. Bolanle Elizabeth Lawani and her husband Martins Dele, who fled the war in Ukraine a year ago, are currently completing a two-year school course to become social workers. When they were still allowed to, they even worked in a retirement home in Herzogenaurach. And now they are supposed to go back to Nigeria, to their home country, which they left 16 years ago. Their right of residence in Germany ended on Tuesday, and the nursing staff is threatened with deportation because they fall through the grid of asylum law.
But first the background: Martins Dele Lawani says he emigrated to Ukraine in 2007, his wife Bolanle Elizabeth followed a year later. The 53-year-old ran a clothing store in Kiev, while his wife, who was two years his junior, sold African groceries. Until they fled in 2022 and came to Germany – like almost a million people since February 24, 2022. For the Ukrainians, the European Union (EU) activated the mass influx directive for the first time. This gives you protection status in every EU country without even having to go through an asylum procedure. They can live where they want, look for work, receive social assistance and German courses.
There are currently around 38,000 refugees from Ukraine in Germany without a Ukrainian passport, and there are 4,353 in Bavaria. These rights apply only to a limited extent, for example if they were recognized as refugees in Ukraine or have a Ukrainian residence permit and not can return to their country of origin.
This protection does not apply to the Lawanis. Because they have not had a valid residence permit in Ukraine for years. They have repeatedly tried to get a new visa, says Martins Dele Lawani. But he was only given one option: to marry a Ukrainian woman and thus obtain the right of residence. Was out of the question for the believing Christian. And neither for his wife.
If the immigration office in Erlangen-Höchstadt doesn’t change its mind, the couple could face deportation. The world looked very different just ten months ago. “We’ve never been treated as well as we have here in our lives,” says Bolanle Elizabeth Lawani. Everywhere people said hello, food was made available to them and they were even helped to find a place to live. At the beginning of May 2022, the immigration office issued the Lawanis with a toleration with a work permit. They found work in an old people’s home very close to their home, helping the elderly to eat and wash them. “In the home I could do what I couldn’t do with my parents: look after them and care for them,” says Martins Dele Lawani. When her work permit expired, one resident even cried. “We promised him that we would come back.”
If it were up to Ute Schulenberg, then immediately. She was director of Kursana Domizil Herzogenaurach when they both worked there and the one who provided them with full-time, permanent employment contracts. Schulenberg is now working at a different location. But she still couldn’t understand why it was being made so difficult for the Lawanis. “They don’t want to be a burden for the state. They want to work in a profession that many no longer want to work in and even qualify for it,” she says. In addition, the two had an empathy for old people that they rarely experience. “They were incredibly popular with the residents, incredibly reliable and hard-working despite the language barrier.” The facility in Herzogenaurach has already given them the option of in-company training for the time after their school education.
It would help everyone if they could just stay.”
The Erlangen-Höchstadt District Office, which is superior to the Immigration Office, does not comment specifically on the Lawani case for data protection reasons, but only in general. There is just as little discretion in the requirements for a residence permit after fleeing the Ukraine as in the requirements for a toleration for the purpose of training. That means: Nothing can be done without proof of legal residence in Ukraine.
However, the district office emphasizes that it is generally easier for foreigners to return to Germany in cases such as that of the Lawanis by means of a simplified visa procedure abroad and thus to implement the strategy of the Federal Government and the Free State for recruiting skilled workers.
Rainer Spenger from the refugee care in Herzogenaurach is also hoping for something like a simplification of the process. He has been looking after the Lawanis for a year and calls the way they are treated “unfair and inhumane. It would help everyone if they were allowed to stay,” says Spenger.
For the time being it looks like it – only nobody knows for how long. The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior reports that the deportation of the couple is not imminent. His application for protection was rejected. The Lawanis are still being consulted by the Erlangen-Höchstadt district’s immigration office on the question of whether they can still be tolerated and thus work in care. The two would also have the option of applying for asylum if their return to their homeland was life-threatening. The couple takes this for granted.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is not considered a safe country of origin. The Federal Foreign Office has issued a travel warning for parts of the country, and there is a risk of terrorism in many regions, including from the Islamists of Boko Haram. In the past there have been repeated attacks on Christians. According to media reports, several Catholic priests were kidnapped last year. “Returning to Nigeria would be dangerous for us,” says Martins Dele Lawani.
Martins Dele and Bolanle Elizabeth Lawani don’t see how serious their situation is when they sit in a station bistro in Forchheim after school and tell their story. “I don’t put my worries on my face,” says Martins Dele Lawani: He doesn’t show his worries. Inside he’s crying, “but on the outside I’m laughing,” he says, and really does for much of the conversation.
In truth, however, they are nervous, says Bolanle Elizabeth Lawani. “We can hardly concentrate on the lessons. We were told that the police could also pick us up from the classroom. Even if we are at home, we are afraid. Any doorbell could be the end.” Out of sheer nervousness, he only got a 4 in the last test, her husband adds. The next test for the two of them was on Thursday, the topic of self-care. Maybe it was her last. So that this is not the case, the refugee care in Herzogenaurach has hired a lawyer. “We will pray that everything turns out well,” says Martins Dele Lawani. “That we can finish our training. And that we can take care of the elderly again.”