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Vietnamese family finally welcome in Berlin after years of struggle!
A Vietnamese family finally receives their right to reside in Berlin after decades of living in Germany.
Vietnamese family finally welcome in Berlin after years of struggle!
The case of the Vietnamese Pham family has caused a lot of excitement in recent years, especially in Chemnitz and beyond. On July 18, 2025, the State Immigration Office in Berlin took action and granted Pham Phi Son and his family the long-awaited residence permit. But how did this turning point come about? taz.de reports on the moving story of a former GDR contract worker who has lived in Germany for more than 35 years.
The beginnings of Pham Phi Son go back to 1987, when he came to Karl-Marx-Stadt from Vietnam as a contract worker. Since then he has worked in various restaurants in Chemnitz and always paid taxes. His daughter Emilia was born in Germany in 2017 and speaks German fluently. But the idyll was suddenly interrupted in 2017 when the family's right of residence was revoked due to a stay of several months in Vietnam for medical reasons.
A tough fight for the right to stay
The family's legal problems began when the Saxon administrative court and the hardship commission rejected the application for a right to remain. The rejections came despite the medical necessity of Pham’s stay in Vietnam. Medical certificates from Germany confirmed that he needed therapy. A failed deportation attempt led to the family going into hiding for almost two years to avoid being separated. Labournet documents the dramatic developments that ultimately drew public attention to the issue.
Despite the support of 107,000 people from an online petition, including politicians from the SPD, the Left and the Greens as well as parents from Emilia's school, the Chemnitz city administration initially remained immobile. Frank Richter, a former Saxon SPD member of the state parliament, regrets the lack of solution from the authorities. Ultimately, the family received approval to move to Berlin in 2023, where they have now started a new life. In Berlin, the family has already found jobs in a canteen and the daughter is attending school.
The new legal territory in Germany
But what happens next for families like Pham's? The new opportunity residence law is currently providing the... Federal Government for excitement. This law, which is already in force, aims to offer long-term tolerated residents a residence permit. This could also be important for the Pham family. Above all, it should serve to end the chain of toleration and create a new beginning in migration and integration policy.
The new law contains regulations that enable an 18-month residence permit for well-integrated people who live in Germany, have not committed any crime and are committed to the basic democratic order. This offers hope for many whose fate feels like that of the Pham family. For them and others who are trying to get the right to remain, it is now important to take the right steps to continue their lives in Germany.