Numerous refugees in Germany have been suffering from being separated from their families for years. The previous federal government has far too often ignored and violated the fundamental and human right to family life. There is therefore an urgent need for action for the new federal government: Family reunification must be accelerated and made easier!
On Friday, November 12, refugees from Eritrea and Afghanistan, together with supporters, protested in Berlin for the acceleration and facilitation of family reunification. Here are the 10 demands they are making of the future governing coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP.
Accelerate and facilitate family reunification!
The right to family life must apply to everyone!
Our 10 demands for family reunification for the 2021 coalition negotiations
Dear members of the parliamentary groups of SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and FDP,
The result paper of the SPD, Greens & FDP probing states that family reunification should be accelerated and legal entry routes should be created. We appeal to the SPD, Greens and FDP to follow up this declaration of intent with action: In recent years, the fundamental and human right of refugees to family life has been ignored and violated far too often. That urgently needs to change!
We – the Eritrea family reunification initiative, the Afghanistan Berlin action group and the Berlin Afghanistan Alliance – are showing here where we see the greatest problems and the need for action by a new federal government in order to actually speed up and facilitate family reunification for refugees in Germany.
1.) The waiting and processing times in procedures for family reunification must be shorter!
In procedures for family reunification, the affected families have to wait an unreasonably long time at many diplomatic missions abroad before they are even given an appointment to submit an application. For example, the waiting time for an embassy appointment at the German diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Islamabad, which are responsible for applications from people from Afghanistan or Eritrea, is currently more than 2 years. In addition, there is a processing time of one to two years.
Suggestions for reducing waiting and processing times have been around for years – so far the only thing missing is the political will to implement them. The current handling of the immigration of skilled workers shows that it is possible to shorten the visa process to a few weeks or months. Procedures for the purpose of family reunification must not be placed in a worse position than other visa procedures. The basic and human rights to the family must finally be given more weight here!
The application must be made possible within a few weeks. The introduction of a digital system is conceivable here, for example. From the point at which the documents are complete, the visa should be issued within three months at the latest. For this, the personnel capacities must be massively increased both at the German missions abroad and in the immigration authorities. A relief for the diplomatic missions in visa processing by the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs (BfAA) is also conceivable here.
2.) Remove bureaucratic hurdles: Family reunification must not be made dependent on documents that families cannot obtain!
Above all, family members of refugees from Eritrea, but also from Afghanistan and other countries, are confronted with demands from the diplomatic missions abroad in the visa process, which they cannot possibly meet: State documents - such as marriages or births - are required, which are in the respective countries are not common or can only be obtained by contacting the persecuting state. Other forms of proof of identity and family ties are not accepted or only accepted very late in court proceedings. This prevents family reunifications or delays them for several years. This legal practice, which is hostile to children and families, must come to an end!
If documents cannot be obtained or if procurement is unreasonable, alternative evidence must be taken into account. It must be made clear by law that contact with the persecuting state may not be demanded. This applies to persons entitled to protection recognized in Germany and their family members.
3.) Unaccompanied minors have a right to live with their siblings!
The German legal situation makes it considerably more difficult for unaccompanied minor refugees to live with their siblings. Your reunification will be subject to conditions that unaccompanied minors cannot possibly meet: providing sufficient housing and securing the livelihood of all family members. Although underage siblings undoubtedly belong to the "nuclear family", their visa applications are usually rejected. As a result, parents are faced with the decision of whether to forgo reunification altogether, whether one parent will remain with the sibling, or whether the sibling will be left behind alone. The same applies here: This legal practice, which is hostile to children and families, must come to an end!
This could easily be implemented, for example, by amending Section 36 (1) of the Residence Act, in which not only “the parents”, but “the parents and underage siblings” of an unaccompanied underage refugee are granted a right to reunification. If Section 36a of the Residence Act is not deleted (see below), a corresponding amendment would also be necessary here.
4.) Finally implement European jurisdiction:
Unaccompanied minor refugees retain their right to parental reunification!
On April 12.04.2018, XNUMX, the European Court of Justice ruled: Unaccompanied minor refugees retain their right to parental reunification if they come of age during the asylum procedure and are then granted refugee status. With regard to minors, the time when the asylum application was filed should be taken into account, since the authorities could otherwise thwart subsequent immigration with lengthy asylum and visa procedures. The Foreign Office, on the other hand, has stubbornly refused to recognize the verdict, claiming that it is not binding on Germany. Despite the clear wording of the ECJ judgment and several national court decisions that confirm this argument, the German missions abroad continue to reject applications from parents of unaccompanied minor refugees on the grounds that they have now come of age. These illegal family separations must end!
For clarification, Section 36 (1) of the Residence Act should be supplemented by the following two sentences: “Once the child reaches the age of majority, the residence permit granted to a sibling becomes an independent right of residence, independent of family reunification. The point in time at which the underage foreigner applied for asylum is decisive for determining whether he or she is a minor.” If section 36a of the Residence Act is not deleted (see below), a corresponding amendment would also be necessary here.
5.) Persons entitled to subsidiary protection must be given the same status as recognized refugees in the case of family reunification!
According to the EU Qualifications Directive, which is also binding for Germany, people who have been granted subsidiary protection should in principle be granted “the same rights and benefits under the same conditions” as recognized refugees. Of course, this also applies to family reunification. Nevertheless, between March 2016 and August 2018, family reunification with persons entitled to subsidiary protection was suspended. In August 2018, Section 36a of the Residence Act introduced a special regulation that makes family reunification dependent on the existence of "humanitarian reasons", includes special reasons for exclusion such as marriage after fleeing and also limits the issuance of only 1000 visas per month.
The special regulation of Section 36a of the Residence Act is a problematic product of populist politics. Persons entitled to subsidiary protection enjoy permanent protection in Germany if the grounds for protection persist, just like recognized refugees. For this reason, they were treated on an equal footing with recognized refugees prior to March 2016 with regard to family reunification. This situation needs to be restored.
6.) Reduce hurdles for "other family members" to join you!
The regulations on family reunification in the Residence Act are extremely limited to reunification of the so-called "nuclear family" - i.e. spouses and parents and their underage children. The subsequent immigration of young adults, for example, is only legally possible “if it is necessary to avoid exceptional hardship”. This restrictive regulation is applied even more restrictively by the authorities in practice, with the result that reunification is almost always rejected in these cases. That doesn't do justice to the realities of family life. In real life, family relationships do not end when a rigid age limit is exceeded. Therefore, the legal hurdles for the reunification of "other family members" must be significantly lowered!
This could be regulated, for example, by amending Section 36 (2) of the Residence Act by replacing the term “extraordinary hardship” with the lower-threshold term “hardness” in the last half-sentence “if it is necessary to avoid exceptional hardship”. It is also conceivable to make family reunification easier for young adults who are at least 21 years of age (analogous to Section 41 of Book VIII of the Social Code).
7.) Family reunification for people with a ban on deportation must be made easier!
A ban on deportation is granted to people who cannot or cannot reasonably be expected to leave the country for another country. Although in these cases the stay often leads to permanent residence in Germany, the possibility of family reunification is severely restricted. Spouses or underage children are only granted reunification “for international law or humanitarian reasons or to protect the political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany” (Section 29, Paragraph 3 of the Residence Act). Apart from the restrictive hardship provision of Section 36 (2) of the Residence Act, there is no legal basis for parents to join unaccompanied, underage refugees with a ban on deportation.
In the case of people with a ban on deportation, it can usually be assumed that the family community can only be established in Germany. In these cases, there should be a right to privileged reunification, analogous to recognized refugees. According to this, Section 29 (2) of the Residence Act is to be supplemented with the residence title under Section 25 (3) of the Residence Act and this group of people is to be deleted from Section 29 (3) of the Residence Act. In addition, parents and siblings should be allowed to join unaccompanied minor refugees with a ban on deportation - for example by supplementing Section 36 (1) of the Residence Act.
8.) Abolish the requirement to prove German language skills before the visa is issued for subsequent immigration of spouses!
For spouses to join you, the German Residence Act requires proof of German language skills at A1 level. There are only exceptions when joining recognized refugees and those entitled to subsidiary protection, if the marriage already existed in the country of origin, and if it is impossible or unreasonable to learn the language. The latter is rarely recognized by German missions abroad. An alarming number of visas for spouses to join them are only refused because people abroad do not have sufficient opportunities to learn the German language and acquire an A1 language certificate. This means that married couples are separated from each other for an unnecessarily long time!
The granting requirement of proof of A1 German language skills (in Section 30 of the Residence Act) must be abolished. German can be learned much easier and faster after entering Germany in an integration course.
9.) Foreign children also need both parents!
In contrast to German children, according to Section 36 (1) of the Residence Act, foreign children are only entitled to one parent to join them if no parent with custody lives in Germany. However, if the father or mother is already living in Germany, the other parent can only join the spouses. If the parents are not married, the other person does not get a visa for family reunification. This keeps children permanently separated from one parent! A change in the law is needed here. The requirement for parental reunification that no parent with custody is in Germany must be removed.
10.) Access to family asylum must be better implemented!
Family members who have come to Germany as part of family reunification have the right to apply for family asylum in accordance with Section 26 of the Asylum Act in addition to the right to a residence permit. Family asylum means that the family members who follow you receive the same protection status and the associated rights as the refugee recognized in Germany. According to Section 26, Paragraph 1, Clause 1, No. 3 of the Asylum Act, the application for family asylum for spouses must be made “immediately”, i.e. usually within 14 days of entry. In practice, this repeatedly presents refugees with insurmountable obstacles. On the one hand, neither the immigration authorities nor the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees have an obligation to provide information about the possibility of applying for family asylum. On the other hand, the families are usually busy with many other problems after their arrival in Germany, such as looking for a place to live or a place in a school or daycare center. In addition, applying for asylum is associated with disadvantages if the person concerned only has a visa and does not yet have a residence permit with a validity period of at least 6 months (e.g. the obligation to live in an initial reception facility). As a consequence, the requirement for spouses to submit an “immediate” application must be removed from the legal text in Section 26, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1, No. 3 of the Residence Act. The right to be recognized as a refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection must not be tied to application deadlines.
Words must be followed by deeds: Accelerate and facilitate family reunification!
As part of the coming federal government or one of the coming government factions, you are responsible for implementing the measures that are necessary to actually speed up and facilitate family reunification. We urge you to live up to this responsibility!
We would be happy to talk to you personally about the problems and the need for action.
You can reach us via the Berlin Refugee Council, buero@fluechtlingsrat-berlin.de, Tel.: 030 224 76 311 or at familiennachzug-eritrea@posteo.de.
With kind regards,
Family reunification initiative Eritrea
Action Group Afghanistan Berlin
Berlin Afghanistan Alliance