Politicians in Germany who are proposing to send Syrians back to their home country risk creating further fear among the exiled Syrian community, Amnesty International warns. Sophie Scheytt, an expert on asylum law and policy at Amnesty in Germany, argues that most Syrians have residence permits that give them the right to remain.

InfoMigrants: What are the various types of status that Syrians in Germany hold?

Sophie Scheytt, Amnesty International (Germany): The vast majority of Syrian residents in Germany have a residence permit – these cannot be revoked overnight. Many of them have unlimited residence permits and quite a big share of them have limited residence permits. Many of the people who have arrived in Germany from Syria over the last decade – around 1.3 million – have received German nationality. In total, that’s roughly 160,000 Syrian people. Last year alone around 75,000 Syrians received German citizenship. I want to state this very clearly: These people belong here, they are part of Germany.

Many Syrians in Germany have subsidiary protection. What is that?

Subsidiary protection is a form of protection that can be granted when a person does not qualify for refugee protection because they haven’t faced individual persecution according to a number of set criteria, but they still face irreparable harm in their home country. This is usually a form of protection that people receive who come from war-torn countries or countries in conflict.

Are these Syrians the ones who could be forced to return?

It is complex because there are different residence permits. As I said, a big share of Syrians have German nationality, so they are German. We also have people who have received refugee status because they have been individually persecuted under Bashar Al-Assad. But we also have subsidiary protection-holders. Then we also have residence permits for family reasons, for study, for work and so on.

For all forms of humanitarian protection, these residence permits cannot be revoked easily. Under German law and EU law, the revocation of these residence permits would require a lasting and viable improvement of the human rights situation in Syria. These requirements are obviously not met, and in the view of Amnesty International, it’s unempathetic and unacceptable to be opening up these discussions already.

For Amnesty a central point is that instead of stirring up fear in the Syrian diaspora here in Germany and other European countries, German decision-makers should state clearly that the people who have arrived in the last ten years are a part of Germany, and they will not just be deported. They also ought to acknowledge that a revocation of the residence permit under German law, EU law, and international law, has a very high legal requirement, and that the human rights situation in Syria cannot be undone and will not be undone overnight.

Some politicians have suggested that Syrians who are well-integrated should not have to return. Do those who have jobs and pay taxes, who are studying or have families here, have a better chance of being able to remain in Germany?

This situation right now and the change of government in Syria should not be used by German politicians ahead of elections to start a discussion about who has to prove to whom how well Syrian nationals have behaved in Germany. Many of the people who fled from Syria to Germany in the past have worked here, have studied here, married here, their children are going to kindergarten and to school, and these people belong here not only politically but also legally.

Residence permits in general – whether for work or family reasons, or study, or humanitarian reasons – transfer rights which cannot be taken away so easily. With many residence permits for study or work the immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde) has no discretion once the requirements are met. Once you fulfil the criteria, it has to be granted because you are legally entitled – it is your right and not an act of mercy. For example, the residence permit for study does not grant any discretion to the authorities to give it or not give it. It is the same for skilled workers and vocational training, under paragraph 18a of the German Residence Act, and it’s the same with family reunification.

How easily can the laws on residence permits or the conditions for protection be changed by new policies?

Many of the residence permits that we are talking about have a basis in international human rights law and in EU law, and these provisions cannot be changed easily. When we talk about refugee protection, for example, the basis lies within the Geneva Refugee Convention, which also clearly states that such residence permits cannot be revoked easily but require a long-lasting improvement in the human rights situation. This cannot be changed overnight.

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