Up to 40,000 particularly vulnerable Afghans are actually supposed to come to Germany through the program. But the program is running more than slowly.
Eleven months after it started, no one has come to Germany through the admission program set up by the federal government for particularly vulnerable people from Afghanistan.
In a response from the government to a request from the left-wing faction it says: “The first entries of people with a confirmation of admission as part of the federal admission program are currently being prepared and should take place promptly.”
Available figures suggest that no large number of Afghans will be allowed to enter the country via the program in the near future. According to the federal government, as of September 6th, only 20 people who had received confirmation of admission through the program had started the visa process and conducted security interviews.
“This is an underground balance,” said the Left Party’s refugee policy spokeswoman, Clara Bünger. “I wonder whether the federal government is still interested in seriously implementing the admission program or whether it is waiting for public interest in the issue to wane and then quietly letting it fizzle out.”
Nevertheless, entry from Afghanistan – via smugglers
Meanwhile, Afghans are still getting to Germany by other means – often with the support of gangs of smugglers. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 35,798 Afghans applied for asylum in Germany for the first time in the first eight months of this year. After Syria, Afghanistan, where the militant Islamist Taliban have been in power since August 2021, takes second place on the list of countries of origin with the most access.
Bünger also criticized long waiting times for Afghans who want to join their relatives in Germany via family reunification. In its response to the left-wing faction’s request, which was received by the German Press Agency, the government stated that the waiting times for an appointment at the application locations in Islamabad and Tehran are currently over a year.
The federal government has offered more than 40,000 particularly vulnerable Afghans and their immediate family members the prospect of admission to Germany. This involves a good 24,800 former local employees and their families, as well as more than 15,300 other people who are considered particularly at risk because of their commitment to democracy. The Union parliamentary group’s domestic policy spokesman, Alexander Throm (CDU), had called for the admission program to be ended in view of the increasing number of refugees.
Source: Stern
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