Within two and a half years, the city of Munich has helped 301 immigrants to return to their home countries and create a new livelihood there. Permanent reintegration saves more than one million euros in social benefits per year in Germany, according to a report that social affairs officer Dorothee Schiwy presented to the city council’s social affairs committee last week.
As a result, in the reporting period between July 2020 and December 2022, a total of 610 people from 61 countries were advised about the assistance offered such as training and further education, job placement or support for business start-ups. 223 men and 78 women took advantage of the offers and then returned to their home countries. Most had previously come from Nigeria (68), Ukraine (46), Pakistan (26) and Afghanistan (16).
The office responsible for return assistance was set up in the Office for Housing and Migration in 1996. “People who have fled their homeland not only need help with integration in Germany,” explains third mayor Verena Dietl (SPD): “Many of them return to their country sooner or later and then need targeted support.” In addition to refugees from war zones, rejected asylum seekers in particular turn to the advice center. Occasionally, migrants who have already been integrated are only drawn back to their country of origin years later.
For all these people, the Social Services Department launched the “Coming Home” project, which was funded by the European Union (EU) and the Bavarian State Office for Asylum and Repatriation (LfAR) with a total of around 1.1 million euros. The City of Munich contributed a further 135,000 euros for the two-and-a-half-year project.