BAMF: Thousands of passenger sets, but hardly possible!

BAMF: Thousands of passenger sets, but hardly possible!

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has procured passport substitute papers in the past five years in 7557 cases for the departure of foreigners. This information comes from a report by the "Tagesspiegel", which was published after a request to the BAMF. Despite this high number of documents issued, around half of the efforts (57%) from 2020 to 2024 were unsuccessful or unsuccessful.

The BAMF acts as part of the administrative assistance and provides replacement papers for certain countries of origin at the request of the federal states. This process is fully organized in three federal states. It should be emphasized that the BAMF carries out collective hearing with experts in order to identify the nationality of the people concerned. The collected papers are then provided to the responsible federal states.

Details on the displayed papers

In the course of the past five years, there is an increasing trend in the number of passenger replacement papers on display:

In 28% of the cases, the departure of the applicants failed due to a granted residence permit or a ban on deportation. In 21% of the cases, foreigners' whereabouts have been unknown for more than two years. Finally, in 12% of cases, own travel documents could be presented. However, the BAMF makes it clear that it is not responsible for the outcome of the procedures.

A look at the migration situation in Germany

Migration in Germany is influenced by various factors, including through geopolitical events such as the Russian attack war on Ukraine. At the end of 2023, 976,905 people seeking protection were reported in Germany, which constitutes 30.8% of all those seeking protection. In 2021, most of the protection seekers came from Syria (640.160), which made 33.1% of immigrants. Syrian citizens are also the second largest group with 711,650 people at the end of 2023.

The third group of those seeking protection form Afghan citizens with 322,570 people (10.2%). In addition, protection seekers from Iraq (200,000 or 6.3%), Turkey (151,650 or 4.8%), Iran (74,730 or 2.4%) and Russia (71,365 or 2.2%) are also present in Germany.

The distribution of these groups is very different regionally. In East Germany and Bavaria there are, for example, high shares of Ukrainian protection seekers, with the Tirschenreuth district with 6.7% and the Bayreuth district with 66.4%. The Syrian protection seekers have the highest proportion in Herne (58%).

The overview of the migration situation in Germany shows the complexity and the challenges that both the authorities and the people affected have to cope with.