About 90,000 asylum seekers in Germany may be banned from re-entering Schengen area countries
Thus, according to the BAMF head, the vast majority of citizens of Balkan states will likely receive a rejection of their asylum application in Germany. However, it will not stop at a simple rejection. Following changes to the current law on the right to residence in Germany, which came into force on August 1, “rejected applicants” are now banned from entering the Schengen area for five years if their asylum application was “obviously unfounded.” According to the official, this rule will also be most frequently applied to natives of Georgia and Tunisia.
“Russkaya Germaniya” notes that German authorities have indeed begun to act more harshly and quickly in recent months regarding refugees whose chances of asylum in Germany are minimal. First of all, this concerns Kosovars who, as early as last spring, literally stormed primary registration centers for refugees in German cities and municipalities. At that time, residents of Kosovo left their homeland by the tens of thousands, hoping for a better life in Western Europe.
For example, in March of this year, more than 12,000 Kosovars were registered in Germany as asylum seekers. However, by June this figure barely exceeded a thousand people, and it continues to decrease. The main reason for this situation is that German authorities have managed to sharply reduce the processing time for asylum applications submitted by residents of Kosovo: it now averages about three months. Actually, this was the timeframe stipulated in the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats and Conservatives before the formation of Angela Merkel’s “black-red” government. However, for a long time, due to the huge influx of refugees, this processing time for asylum applications could not be maintained.
Now, at least regarding residents of Balkan countries, the deadlines are being more or less met. After that comes the expected rejection of the asylum request and extradition from the Federal Republic. In the first half of the year, 8,178 people were deported from Germany, which is 42% more compared to the same period last year. Another 12,600 people voluntarily returned to their homeland after being denied asylum in Germany; almost 85% of them are from the Balkans.
Notably, the Federal Ministry of the Interior has been conducting its own “explanatory campaign” since last week about the futility of applications submitted by Balkan refugees. Thus, the Interior Ministry has prepared a special video that captures the process of deporting “rejected applicants” from the country. In these frames, unlucky refugees are brought to the airport accompanied by stern Federal Police officers, searched, put on a plane, and sent back to their homeland. The video is accompanied by a corresponding commentary that literally states the following: “Economic motives cannot be grounds for granting asylum.” At the same time, the commentator reminds that all costs of extradition must be borne by the “rejected applicants” themselves. “Do not put your families on the brink of financial and economic disaster for the sake of illegal entry into Germany,” the film asserts.
Meanwhile, German human rights activists have sharply criticized the “work of art” produced by the Ministry of the Interior, calling it inhumane.