Despite the German government's plans to cut red tape and encourage more foreigners to come to work in Germany with its new Skilled Worker Act, the country's foreigners' offices are already struggling to keep up with the demand for visa applications and renewals.Â
As The Local reported in May this year, Germany's AuslÀnderbehörde (foreigners' offices) are already short-staffed and overburdened, particularly with a growing number of asylum and refugee applications.
In Frankfurt, it was revealed last November that around 15,000 emails had accumulated at the city's foreigners' office - including time-sensitive matters such as visa extension requests.
To try to combat this, the city launched a new online application portal with the aim of improving services and processing applications faster for foreigners in the region at the end of June this year.
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However, the new service has already gained widespread criticism for appearing to do the exact opposite.
In an open letter, 31 immigration lawyers complained that the portal has not only failed to improve contact with the foreigners' authority but that the authority has established a "contact avoidance mechanism that effectively makes it impossible for users to present their concerns".
Among other things, the lawyers criticise the fact that the contact forms require numerous details that are unnecessary for processing requests, such as asking for applicants' height or eye colour. If not all mandatory fields are filled out or if all requested documents cannot be uploaded immediately, applicants are then denied contact with the office.
It is also not possible to submit additional documents via the portal. Users only have the option to start the entire process anew or submit documents by mail.
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The signatories of the open letter state that, after only a few weeks, the portal has caused "massive restrictions on access to administrative work" and the loss of important information. For their clients, they say, this could lead to the loss of residence permits, jobs, and housing.Â
Already 4,000 applications received through the portal
In response, however, the Frankfurt foreigners' office has pointed out that 4,000 applications have already been submitted through the portal since its launch and that some of these can also be processed more quickly. A hotline is also available for any questions.
Application forms are also available in ten different languages, which the foreigners' office hoped would help address the continuously growing backlog of unanswered email inquiries.
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