The main suspect behind the scheme, a 39-year-old originally from Iraq, is alleged to have been active throughout Germany, recruiting people with good German language skills to sit in official tests in place of the immigrants who were supposed to take these exams. 

A statement from the Middle Franconia police headquarters indicates that the main suspect in the case is alleged to have acted as an intermediary, charging up to 6,000 euros to make sure that immigrants look as if they have passed a language or naturalization exam.

The suspect is said to have recruited candidates across Germany with decent German language skills to take exams on behalf of migrants as a proxy, who were seeking to get their residence permits or naturalization as Germany citizens.

According to the initial evaluation of the preliminary evidence presented to date, it is assumed that the final tally of instances in which someone sat an exam as a proxy on behalf of an immigrant will turn out to be a "high double-digit number," Bavarian investigators said.

In nearly all cases, longterm immigrants to Germany have to take these tests to become fully regularized people with permanent papers in Germany.

Over a dozen suspects identified, with two arrested

The main suspect, the Iraqi man, was arrested and is currently in custody awaiting trial.

A 22-year-old German man believed to be a co-conspirator was also taken into custody in January. 

The latter was arrested as he was about to take such an exam-by-proxy. 

In December last year, ten other people were identified who had acted as proxies at a language school in North Rhine-Westphalia as they were taking exams for others.

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New ways of trying to trick the government

According to the police, this particular scheme was flagged as a new way of using fraud to obtain regular permanent status for immigrants in Germany.

This new scam against the government not only centered on sending a person to take a language or naturalization exam in place of someone else but also involved the proactive forging of documents, with the false examinees presenting fake identification showing their photo with the details of the people who needed to take the test. 

Police said that this approach made it nearly impossible for examiners to detect the scam operation, resulting in them issuing genuine pass certificates upon the successful completion of exams, which later would be presented for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit or to go ahead with the naturalization process.

Test results are usually communicated between various government departments digitally, though those who take the test are handed a certificate upon passing; this certificate, however, does not feature a picture of the person who sat in the examination.

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Forged documents, fake identities, falsified tests

There have been previous cases of such forgeries in immigration cases. In 2024, two brothers were tried on allegations of having falsified hundreds of language course certificates for migrants.

The same year, the previous German government introduced a bill to stop false paternity claims in regularization attempts.

Throughout Europe, police forces have been uncovering fraudulent activities — often linked back to smuggling networks that bring migrants to the continent — in attempts to regularize migrants, including deployig forged documents.

Read AlsoTrial begins over suspected falsification of language certificates for migrants

with AFP