Germany's special representative in charge of migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, traveled to Bogota this week for talks with the Colombian government on a number of immigration issues.

"In Bogota, we will also publicly point out that the right of asylum is not a suitable route into the German labor market," Stamp told Germany’s dpa news agency prior to his departure.

He added that he wanted to "quickly reduce the number of asylum applications with no prospect of success."

Germany meanwhile continues to look abroad to fill gaps in the country's labor market, including in Colombia.

Stamp highlighted that many of the people from Colombia who took the asylum route actually would have been eligible to opt for regular labor migration to Germany instead.

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Colombians: Next to no chance of winning asylum cases

With more than 3,500 asylum applications submitted so far this year, Colombians are now among the top-ten countries of first-time asylum applicants in Germany.

This marks a 25-fold increase compared with 2018, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

Only one in about 200 Colombian applicants has their application recognized in Germany.

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Labor market only hope

The German government hopes to spread awareness about options that are open to Colombian nationals, stressing that they have little chance to move to Germany as refugees, and that they should acquire in-demand job skills to apply for work visas instead.

According to a report last year from the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), an estimated 1.8 million jobs remain unfilled in the German economy.

"Colombia has a great potential of young workers who would like to work temporarily or permanently in Germany," Stamp said during an interview earlier this year

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with dpa