New German Office for Migration and Refugees Opens
July 10, 2002
The first stage of Germany's new law on immigration and asylum was kicked off on Tuesday with the opening of a Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Nuremberg. The office replaces the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees and is headed by the former leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bavarian State Parliament, Albert Schmid.
Promoting integration
The new office will implement sections of the immigration law signed by German President Johannes Rau at the end of June. Its main task will be to promote the integration of immigrants by developing a framework for courses in German language and society. The office will also be responsible for processing all refugee applications.
In January 2003, the office will take on a wider range of functions, including the distribution of refugees among the 16 federal states, and coordinate the reception and processing of around 15,000 Jewish immigrants who arrive each year from the former Soviet Union.
At the official opening of the new office on Tuesday, German Interior Minister Otto Schily described it as one of the most important authorities in the country.
The immigration committee will report annually on the current state of migration in Germany and likely future immigration patterns.
Schily on the defensive
The Interior Minister this week defended the government's controversial new immigration law, saying it would lead to a significant drop in the number of new immigrants and at the same time increase opportunities for highly-skilled applicants.
Schily said the immigration law would not face a new challenge in parliament, because the Free Democratic Party had indicated it would not vote against the government. He also said he was confident that the Federal Constitutional Court would find the law constitutional, should it be subject to a legal challenge.
However, human rights and refugee groups in Germany are critical of the law. They say it will force asylum seekers into illegality.
Under a single umbrella
The establishment of the Office is the first major step towards the full implementation of the new Law on Controlled and Limited Migration. It comes one year after an independent commission on immigration proposed that the eleven separate offices and ministerial portfolios be brought together under a single authority to be called the Federal Office of Immigration and Integration.
The Office for Migration and Refugees will be responsible for areas previously covered by different bodies including the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Labour, the Employment office and the Commissioner for Resettlement, as well as the individual states, churches and welfare organisations.
The Interior Ministry also announced on Tuesday that the Federal Institute for Population Research would change its name to include the word 'migration', and would in future be attached to the new Office for Migration. The Institute for Population- and Migration Research will provide advice to the government as well as supporting the work of the immigration committee.