The Friedland refugee reception center near Göttingen is the only camp in Germany where late resettlers are initially housed after moving to Germany
As Deutsche Welle notes, the number of late resettlers in Germany has been increasing over the past five years. In 2017, the only camp in Germany for late resettlers in Friedland registered 7,134 repatriates from post-Soviet countries, dpa reports. According to the director of the institution, Heinrich Hörnschemeyer, about 500 more people arrived in Germany than in 2016.
According to Hörnschemeyer, most of the current resettlers are young families whose relatives already live in Germany. The minimum number of ethnic Germans arrived in Germany in 2012, when 1,800 repatriates were registered. Since then, the number of late resettlers has steadily increased.
A significant reason for this was changes in the law that simplified entry into the country for the purpose of family reunification, dpa notes. According to experts, the number of late resettlers from post-Soviet countries will continue to increase in the coming years.
The maximum number of ethnic Germans arrived in Germany in 1990 – 400,000 people. The minimum number of repatriates was registered in 2012 – 1,800 people. After the 2013 change in the law that simplified entry into the country for the purpose of family reunification, the influx of resettlers began to increase. In 2013, 2,300 ethnic Germans moved to Germany, in 2014 – 5,600.
For several years now, a rule has been in effect requiring resettlers to pass a basic German language exam before moving to Germany. In 2014, about 1.8 million ethnic Germans from post-Soviet countries lived in Germany.