The voluntary return of thousands of rejected asylum seekers in Germany to their home countries has become a bottleneck, a new media report shows. In theory, returnees can apply for support from federal and state governments including free flights and a small startup grant.
Revazi L. arrived in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt nearly a year ago. When the Georgian national's asylum application was rejected, the 20-year-old decided to return to Georgia voluntarily.
Yet after filing an application to that very end on March 7 of this year, nothing happened for months. The result: After being put in pre-deportation detention, he was deported on June 11, the Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday (June 29).
Revazi L.'s case is not an isolated one. According to information obtained by Spiegel, almost 2,000 applications for support for voluntary returns were stuck at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) at the end of May.
Since one application often represents entire families, according to Spiegel, the number of those affected is even higher.
From IOM to BAMF
Until the end of last year, the UN migration agency IOM administered and implemented the voluntary return program in Germany. The delays, according to Spiegel, started this year when BAMF took over the implementation from the IOM.
Authorities in Berlin, for instance, reportedly used to wait between two to six weeks for IOM to decide on the applications for grants. Starting this year, they have had to wait around eight to 15 weeks, Spiegel reported.
While BAMF confirmed to Spiegel a processing backlog due to the high number of applications, it blamed it on delays in commissioning an external service provider for the actual payment of aid directly at the airports. The service provider only started work in April because of budget problems in the fourth quarter of 2023 and a complex tendering process, BAMF said according to Spiegel.
However, different state authorities told Spiegel they assume the real reason for the slow processing to be a lack of BAMF staff dealing with the new tasks.
Read more: Which voluntary return schemes exist for migrants in Germany?
Free flights and startup grants
Support measures for those whose applications are granted include paid flights home and up to 1,700 euros in cash for the journey and reintegration into their home communities. According to Spiegel, this is much cheaper than the often months- or even years-long support rejected asylum seekers are entitled to until they get deported.
More than 10,700 migrants used the voluntary return scheme last year, Spiegel reported.
While waiting for a decision by BAMF on support measures, applicants reportedly can only wait. Without information from BAMF, reintegration advisors in German municipalities cannot assist would-be returnees, according to Spiegel. Furthermore, the crucial passport replacement papers for returnees sometimes expire, requiring them to go through a complicated process to get new documents from their home countries' embassies and consulates in Germany.
According to BAMF, those wishing to leave the country could do so at any time, meaning they are able to leave without an answer to their applications for support.
Also read: More migrants in Tunisia choosing to go home, UN migration agency
States forced to advance expenses
Some federal states such as Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse and Lower Saxony are currently paying the aid out of their own pocket because "voluntary departure with state funds is still more economical than allowing people to remain in Germany," a source at one of the state interior ministries told Spiegel.
At the beginning of June, BAMF reportedly guaranteed the federal states to cover their return costs for adult individuals and spouses from West Balkan countries, Moldova and Georgia. However, the foreigners' offices across Germany first have to book the flights and cover all other expenses themselves, Spiegel reported.
According to news agency dpa citing BAMF information, the office received a total of 4,963 applications for assistance for 9,986 people from January 1 until May 31. In the same period, the procedures for more than 6,000 people had been completed. Applicants were not exclusively rejected asylum seekers, it added.
Meanwhile, the deportation success rate in the European Union has been increasing in 2024. According to new data by EU statistics office Eurostat, non-EU citizens were deported at a rate of 29.5 percent in the first four months of this year, up from 21.6 percent in the same period in 2022.
Read more: Deportations from Germany up by 30%
with dpa