Exclusive
Status: 08/25/2022 05:00 a.m
Refugees have long been complaining about waiting times at the immigration authorities for months. One SWR-A survey of agency heads shows how dramatic the situation is: massive staff shortages and overwork – to the chagrin of the applicants.
Malik Younes from Speyer (Rhineland-Palatinate) learned German, successfully completed his law studies and found a job in a government agency. Then came a dream offer for the native Syrian: “Where I work, I had a unique opportunity to become a civil servant. But I needed the naturalization certificate for that,” he says. He applied for naturalization in November last year at the immigration office in Speyer. But despite repeated inquiries, he had not received any information from there for months – while his employer’s application deadline was getting closer and closer.
“I couldn’t sleep well, couldn’t concentrate on my tasks. I couldn’t do anything. Yes, I was exhausted,” says Younes. In the end, he saw his only chance in suing the immigration authorities in Speyer with a lawyer. The immigration authorities only reacted to the lawsuit a few weeks ago.
“Customers’ work partly at risk”
Younes’ case – one of many that have arisen as a result of the immigration authorities being overwhelmed. An anonymous survey by the SWR, which the broadcaster sent by e-mail to more than 540 immigration authorities in Germany. Even before the first results arrive, automated e-mail replies show the problem: “Due to the Ukraine crisis and the blatant shortage of staff, the current processing of inquiries and applications that require legal examination takes between three and six months,” it says. Other authorities are talking about up to twelve months.
216 heads of immigration authorities from 13 federal states took part in the survey. Some write: “Insufficient staff with increasing workload”, “Employee overload”, “High fluctuation and bad atmosphere”. But also more drastic: “Customer work is sometimes at risk due to too long processing, job center blocks services” and “many tasks are left undone, which is why there is an immense backlog that can hardly be cleared up”.
Personnel situation “very tense”
Almost everyone agrees on the personnel situation: 94 percent of the survey participants describe it as “tense”, the majority even as “very tense”. The main reasons given by more than 70 percent are not enough suitable applicants, too few or vacant positions, but also a lack of space or insufficient pay. And the lines are also reaching their limits. Almost two-thirds say they don’t have enough time to fulfill their managerial role in the current situation.
Over the past five years, the workload has “increased” or even “greatly increased,” say all of the 216 immigration authorities that took part. Currently, one of the main reasons is the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The authorities have had to register thousands of refugees in recent months. Above all, according to the survey, new changes in the law lead to massive new burdens, say more than 90 percent.
The head of the foreigners authority of the city of Minden (North Rhine-Westphalia), Thomas Schickentanz, cites the so-called Skilled Immigration Act as an example, as well as the so-called right of residence, which is intended to open up long-term prospects for those who are tolerated in Germany.
The head of the authority has calculated what this means for his city. Up to 750 people could benefit from the law, he says. “You have to calculate an hour per case, then you can count on one hand that it is difficult to handle even with full staff. Here legal norms are put into effect, where you are not even aware of the personnel consequences. I invite every politician to do an internship here.”
Hostilities against officials
All this leads to the concrete effects for foreign citizens. 200 executives state that the workload in their agency leads to delays or restrictions in processing. 82 percent state that there are problems with being available by telephone. And more than half of the participating authorities even had to restrict operations in phases this year.
The clear majority of the heads of authorities also report increased pressure on their employees and thus increased hostility. 66 percent report regular (at least once a month) insults, 64 percent of “aggressive behavior” and even eight percent of regular “physical aggression”. Recently, a case in Wuppertal caused a stir when a 20-year-old Syrian attacked an employee of the immigration office with a knife.
Authority admits failure
Incidentally, in the case of Younes, the authority openly admitted that the personnel situation led to the delays. In a statement to the SWR It says: “The city of Speyer currently has only one employee in this area, who takes care of both the naturalization applications, which have meanwhile increased significantly, and the citizenship system.” Efforts are now being made to create more jobs, it said.
After all: In the end, Younes was naturalized in time. After a court found that the immigration authorities had failed, he no longer had to pay the court costs he was initially charged with.