The first check of the possibility of social adaptation in Germany occurs on the basis of formal criteria: age, education, work experience, property status. Additional points are given for higher education, experience in the specialty. Negative factors are advancing age, which leaves little chance for integration into the labor market, and long-term work outside one's profession. For example: railway engineer Yevgeny K. has been working as an electronics sales manager for the last 20 years. Here, discussions with the admissions office are possible – whether the nature of work over the last 10-15 years is work in the specialty? After all, Yevgeny K. may be working as a manager selling industrial electronics, signaling systems and other complex structures that require specialized knowledge.
Applicants with personal burdens also have the opportunity to accumulate the required 50 passing points. The personal qualities of a non-Jewish spouse can help; these qualities can also be assessed by a point system and included in the overall integration prognosis. Higher education and work experience in the acquired academic specialty do not automatically mean the accumulation of integration prerequisites. Nevertheless, these two positions give a solid number of passing points, which can be improved with additional points and fulfillment of other prerequisites. For example, by renouncing social benefits, intending to invest funds in the German economy.
The regulations for admitting Jewish resettlers contain the concept of a difficult case regarding the knowledge of the German language. The legal concept of a difficult case is an open provision without a clear, complete content. Probably, no lawyer can list all conceivable 'difficult cases.' In general, these are all life situations that a reasonable person might consider exceptional aggravating circumstances justifying ignorance of the German language. The most obvious example is the impossibility of learning a foreign language due to illness or disability. Depending on the circumstances, difficult life situations other than health complaints can be considered.
A significant exception to the admission rules is made for victims of National Socialism. Applicants from this group do not have to prove knowledge of the German language and do not have to provide a positive integration prognosis. The danger of becoming a victim of fascist Nazism ended on May 8, 1945. True, the admission rules grant the legal status of Nazi victims to persons born before January 1, 1945. Persons born between January 1, 1945 and May 8, 1945 can individually prove their fate as a victim of German, Romanian, Hungarian and other fascists. This presumption of the fate of a victim of National Socialism can be refuted depending on the circumstances of the case.
The passage about the refutability of the fate of a Nazi victim for persons born before January 1, 1945 has the following background. The admissions office for Jewish resettlers automatically assumes fascist persecution and the fate of a victim for applicants born before January 1, 1945, as stated in the instructions. The admissions office in individual cases has the opportunity to prove the opposite, namely that an applicant born before January 1, 1945 is not a victim of Nazism due to individual circumstances. For example, he lived the entire war in the Urals, several thousand kilometers from the front line. In my practice, I have not heard of the application of the right to refute the fate of a Nazi victim for an applicant born before January 1, 1945, but theoretically it is possible.
Thomas PUE,
German lawyer.