Berlin: The German authorities have announced that the country is planning to make changes to the asylum process.
According to the Special Commissioner for Migration of Germany, Joachim Stamp, the government is currently assessing options for transferring asylum procedures to the continent of Africa.
At the same time, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has required that the government starts deporting people who have no right to remain in the country, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to Info Migrants, Special Commissioner Stamp said that people that get rescued in the Mediterranean could be sent to North Africa during the time their asylum claims are being processed. However, he noted that this required ‘a lot of diplomacy’, referring to talks that need to be held before such a decision is taken.
This is not the first time that German authorities have given the idea of transferring asylum procedures to be carried out in another country. Back in 2016, former Minister of Interior, Thomas de Maizière, gave the same idea, saying that people rescued in the Mediterranean Sea should be taken to reception camps in North Africa.
His successor, former minister Horst Seehofer, also supported a similar idea. Nonetheless, these plans never got approved or implemented due to legal hurdles as well as a lack of cooperation from the African states.
On the other hand, the current government has affirmed its commitment to reassess that situation and see if there is a possibility to send asylum seekers to a third country until a decision on their application is taken.
Regarding deportation plans, Chancellor Scholz said that countries of origin should start taking back rejected asylum seekers, Info Migrants explains.
“If Germany guarantees protection to people who are persecuted, those who cannot claim this protection must go back to their home countries. The prerequisite for this is that the home countries also take back their compatriots, and this is something which often is still lacking,” Scholz stressed.
Apart from making such a statement, Scholz stressed that Germany would continue to keep open its legal immigration channels so third-country skilled workers can reach Germany without being subject to strict and additional rules.
Previously, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that Germany has decided to return to foreigners and migrants to try to fill job positions. Germany currently needs to fill about two million job vacancies in various sectors across the country.
For this reason, the German authorities are planning to no longer apply strict rules for foreigners who wish to take up jobs in the country.
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