How one German immigration office plans to tackle long waiting times

The city of Darmstadt near Frankfurt in southwest Germany is home to three universities and around 35,000 international residents. In fact, national statistics from 2020 show that internationals make up 20,5 percent of the population in the city.

It’s little wonder then, that problems with the Ausländerbehörder (the international immigration offices) have been widely reported as negatively impacting lots of foreign residents in the city. 

Determined to combat the issues once and for all, last week the city's Mayor, Jochen Partsch (Greens) presented a new concept for restructuring the service.

What are the problems?

Darmstadt's immigration office has had a bad reputation for years, due to long waiting times, and problems getting hold of staff or arranging appointments. According to local immigration lawyers, the processing of applications for naturalization currently takes around two years.

READ ALSO: ‘Nothing is easy’: How foreigners struggle to get settled in Germany

There have been numerous reports of foreign residents being unable to renew expired residence permits due to the impossibility of getting hold of the authorities. A report by the German regional news site Hessenschau.de from February included an account of a student calling over 80 times, even during office hours, and never getting a response.

Immigration and asylum lawyer, Sonja Plückebaum, who is based in Darmstadt, said: "We have clients who have lost their apprenticeship or job because they did not get their residence permit extended in time." Major problems also often arise when people are looking for an apartment or signing a mobile phone contract.

What's causing the problems?

City officials have claimed that the problems with the immigration office ultimately come down to staffing and workload.

For some time now, there has been a high level of staff turnover and an above-average level of sick leave among employees at the immigration office.

The city's former Mayor, Rafael Reißer, said earlier in the year that the loss of experienced workers had led to a "continuous reduction" in expertise, while, at the same time, work had piled up. New employees in particular were plagued by "self-doubt and insecurity" due to the "daily pressure to perform," which in most cases led to them resigning.

READ ALSO: Germany ranked as ‘worst country in the world’ for expat needs

These issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. 

What are the new plans?

The first step will be to set up a service team to coordinate the allocation of appointments and be the first point of contact for all issues, to help tackle the problems with reaching staff at the immigration office.

New specialised teams will be put together, which will deal with specific areas affecting foreign residents, such as education, employment and resident rights. 

The electronic filing system in the immigration office is also being fast-tracked and should be operational by the autumn, which will help speed up workflows.

The city also announced 12 new full-time positions to be filled as soon as possible.

The new organisation will also help reduce the workload for individual employees, he said: "All the measures taken now will add up to ensure that people will once again receive the comprehensive service they deserve."

READ ALSO: Berlin to revolutionise immigration office 'experience'

Useful vocabulary:

immigration office - (die) Ausländerbehörde

residence permit - (die) Aufenthaltserlaubnis

waiting time - (die) Wartezeit

to reach someone by phone - jemanden telefonisch erreichen

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