Refugees from Ukraine: Berlin wants to simplify access to residence permits
Refugees from Ukraine
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Berlin will simplify access to residence permits
When Ukrainian refugees come to Berlin, they expect bureaucracy. Now the confusing procedure for a residence permit is to be simplified. Among other things, the Senate wants to relax the regulations for proof of an apartment.
Berlin wants to make it easier for refugees from Ukraine to obtain a residence permit. Among other things, the regulations for proof of an apartment in Berlin will be relaxed. This was announced by Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) after the Senate session on Tuesday. At the same time, volunteers who have made living space available to people for a short period of time should be given more planning security.
So far there is two ways for Ukrainian refugees to stay in Berlin. Either they go through the arrival center in Tegel, where they can provide information about their needs and connections to Berlin. Special circumstances such as pregnancy, family connections or membership of a religious group are also taken into account.
Those who meet the criteria should be registered and be able to stay in Berlin, all other people will be assigned to the federal states according to the Königstein key – with Berlin only taking in five percent of the refugees.
Many people also entered the country with private vehicles
In addition, however, many refugees have reached Berlin on their own, mostly with private vehicles. “They have the special feature that they can enter the EU for three months without a visa,” says the migration policy spokesman for the Greens, Jian Omar, of the rbb evening show. During this time they can look for accommodation without registering. Many stayed with family members or friends who lived here.
There are also refugees who have found privately arranged apartments or places to sleep via volunteer portals. According to Giffey, this affects around two-thirds of all Ukrainians in Berlin, but there are no exact figures. They are not officially registered.
For these people, the State Office for Immigration (LEA) A special online procedure has now been set up with which the application for a residence permit can be submitted. This is necessary, among other things, in order to be able to work in Germany. Without such a residence permit in Berlin, the refugees would have to go through the regular registration procedure – and would have to expect to be accommodated in another federal state.
The length of stay should be reduced to six months
In the new LEA procedure, Ukrainian war refugees who have found accommodation in Berlin can already use a form to upload their passport and a rental agreement or – which is particularly common in the case of private short-term accommodation – a certificate from the landlord.
Recently, however, there have been irritations: This certificate is expected to provide for a period of residence of up to two years. On the one hand, few refugees are likely to be lucky enough to have an apartment for such a long period of time.
That exceeds the possibilities of many private hosts, according to Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey. “We have to be realistic, nobody writes a check for two years. It can’t stay like this, hopefully there will be clarification on that in the coming days.” According to rbb information, the plan is to shorten the duration of accommodation to six months.
Appointments that have already been made will be cancelled
The initiative by the LEA, which belongs to the Senate Department for the Interior, initially caused disagreements between the authorities. The State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF), which reports to the social administration, had to cancel thousands of appointments for registrations because with the new LEA procedure, applications should no longer be submitted to the LAF. How many people are affected remained unclear, the authority recently registered around 800 people per day. The State Office for Refugee Affairs is canceling all appointments already made by mid-April.
“The cancellation of many thousands of dates for the introduction of the procedure is very incomprehensible from the point of view of those affected,” said Björn Wohlert, socio-political spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group in Berlin. “We call on the Senate to avoid unnecessary chaos and to reconsider the new process in coordination with the State Office for Refugee Affairs and to improve it as soon as possible.”
For the refugees who come to Berlin with no prospect of accommodation, the only option is to travel to the Tegel arrival center. The allocation then takes place there – in the meantime, only a small proportion of the refugees remain in Berlin. Green politician Omar defends this approach: “In order to maintain the quality of accommodation and the standards, we make sure that we also report the other federal states via a fair system.”
Broadcast: evening show, March 22, 2022, 7:30 p.m