Bavarian asylum workers send Resolution to Berlin
The asylum workers from Upper Bavaria are eagerly awaiting the new right of residence. In October, the Bundestag will discuss the draft law. In advance, the helpers wrote a resolution that they want to send to Berlin – they see a need for improvement.
Lisa Hogger has gained enough experience with authorities and politics in the many years since she has been an asylum helper in the Weilheim-Schongau district. She knows that Bavaria often makes much stricter decisions on asylum issues than other federal states. And she is not the only one who is concerned that there are still many loopholes in the draft law on the new right of residence that could prevent those with a tolerated stay in Bavaria from getting a chance to stay permanently. The Upper Bavarian helpers invited a lawyer to their asylum summit in Munich on Saturday to have the planned law explained to them in detail. They then wrote a resolution that they want to send to all parties in the Bundestag in Berlin.
The law stipulates that refugees who have been living in Germany for five years on January 1, 2022, have the opportunity to remain permanently. If they have not committed a crime and are able to support themselves. They are given one year to meet these conditions. The asylum workers criticize that there is a deadline of January 1, 2022. “He’s also a year behind,” says Hogger. The new law is scheduled to come into force in January 2023. Anyone who has reached or will reach five years in the past few months would no longer benefit from it. In addition, the helpers see a problem in the fact that the asylum seekers must have been tolerated continuously. “It is often the case that the toleration is not extended seamlessly and people are temporarily obliged to leave the country,” she says. “With that, she wouldn’t have a chance anymore.” They also have concerns about another point. Anyone who has been sentenced to more than 50 daily rates for an offense or more than 90 daily rates for a foreigner-specific offense has no right to this opportunity to stay. “We don’t protect criminals,” Hogger emphasizes. “But it is the practice in Bavaria that people who are not involved in obtaining a passport receive more than 100 daily rates.”
We demand that refugees from other countries receive the same support as Ukrainians.
The helpers are worried about how difficult it is for refugees to find an apartment. This is also a condition for permanent residency. “A year isn’t much time for that,” says Hogger. The helpers demand that the deadline can be extended if the asylum seekers have already met all the other conditions and only the apartment is missing.
They drafted a second resolution at their summit. “We welcome the way politicians are dealing with refugees from Ukraine,” says Pastor Jost Herrmann, who organized the summit together with Hogger. “But we demand that the refugees from other countries receive the same support.” The helpers on the ground often find themselves in need of explanations. “Refugees must not be played off against one another,” emphasizes Herrmann.
Overall, the number of helpers in many regions has fallen sharply, he reports. “In the average district, around 1,000 volunteers used to be active, now there are still an average of 250.” Many would have listened out of frustration or because they were overloaded. “And some probably needed an emotional break too.”