For several months now, asylum seekers have had the opportunity to be recognized as skilled workers and to stay in Germany. However, according to a media report, this so-called lane change is hardly being used.
Asylum seekers have apparently only rarely managed to obtain a secure residency status in Germany as a skilled worker. This is the result of a survey conducted by the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” among the ten cities with the most inhabitants. According to the survey, only a few asylum seekers have made use of the new opportunity to switch from the asylum procedure to the skilled worker procedure.
“So far, no asylum seekers have made this lane change in Dortmund,” a city spokesman told the newspaper. A spokesman for the city of Frankfurt am Main said that “no cases are known” to date. Düsseldorf reported one case. Cologne reported “very isolated” applications. Some cities said they could not provide any information. Only Munich reported slightly higher numbers: around 25 people had applied to change lanes. Some of these have so far been approved. When asked, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said that it did not have any nationwide figures, reported “Welt am Sonntag”.
Since November 2023, asylum seekers who entered the country before March 29, 2023 and have qualifications and a job offer can apply for a residence permit as a skilled worker – if they withdraw their asylum application. Previously, you had to leave the country first and then apply for a work visa from abroad. Last year, critics had already described the rules as too complicated.
Source: Stern
