Last year, 1,229 people filed corresponding applications with the capital's branch of the Federal Office for Foreign Refugees (BAFL). A more than modest figure compared with 1990, when there were 33,487 applicants. The flow of refugees (Asylbewerber) declined every year. Officials at the agency consider the main reason for this to be the deterioration of Germany's image as a potential emigration country. “The main criteria when choosing a destination are the situation on the labor market and attitudes toward foreigners,” says BAFL expert Roland Dorfner. He emphasizes that most refugees gather information about the situation in the country through compatriots already living there long before deciding to enter.
In the near future, the situation will change. And not at all because Berlin is expecting a sharp economic upturn capable of providing jobs for everyone willing, or a change in public attitudes. In January 2005, amendments to the law on political refugees come into force, according to which the quota for their admission in the capital will double. Until now, the city-state accepted only 2.2% of asylum seekers from the national total – a drop in the ocean compared, for example, with North Rhine-Westphalia (22.4%) or Bavaria (14%). Now Berlin, under the new quota system based on total population and tax revenue, will have to accept an increase in its share to 4.9%. According to a decision by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, quotas will be set annually.
It is interesting to trace changes in the national composition of asylum seekers. In 1990, 11,603 citizens of Romania filed applications for admission, 5,553 from Vietnam, and 3,771 from Bulgaria. In the mid-1990s, immigrants from the former USSR held the lead, and by the early 1990s they were replaced by Turks. In 2003, the largest number of applications (229) came from citizens of Moldova.
Overall in Germany, in the first half of the current year, 18,682 applications for political asylum were accepted for review – 22.5% fewer than in the previous six months. According to BAFL, the review of applications takes from one month to six months. Of the applications previously submitted for the period from January to June, 551 were granted, while in 22,791 cases (65.5%) applicants were refused. 27.9% of cases were closed due to applicants leaving Germany.