Ukrainians seeking protection are moving on to Germany in particular

As with several migration movements from other regions of the world, the Federal Republic of Germany is also the country for Ukrainians seeking protection to which they most often move on after fleeing their home country. Apart from the direct neighboring country of Poland – which has a 520-kilometer-long land border with Ukraine – Germany has taken in by far the most refugees from the Ukraine invaded by Russia in Europe.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 1.47 million people seeking protection are registered in Poland, and around 1.01 million live in Germany. This is followed at some distance by the Czech Republic (456,000), Italy (172,000), Spain (150,000), Great Britain (140,000) and France 119,000. In addition, around 2.85 million Ukrainians are said to have fled to Russia from the acts of war caused by Moscow; however, many of them may have returned or moved on to other countries.

Like all other available figures for the Ukraine refugees, the UN figures mentioned are only to be understood as an approximate approximation of reality. As before, many onward journeys or returnees as well as unregistered new arrivals can be assumed.

The fact that it is geographically closer to Ukraine than most other European countries and is the most populous and economically strongest country in Europe plays a role in the strong immigration to Germany. Although the UNHCR does not provide per capita admission rates, it should also be noted that, according to figures published by the OECD Migration Department at the beginning of October, in addition to the most important host country, Poland, some smaller EU countries are also more affected by the flight to Ukraine in terms of their population than Germany.

While there are around twelve Ukrainians per 1,000 inhabitants in the Federal Republic, there are more than 40 in the Czech Republic and Estonia, 37 in Poland, more than 20 in Latvia and Lithuania and around 17 in Slovakia. Only after these Eastern European countries does Germany follow, if based on population size.

In contrast to these states, which are currently particularly challenged in the context of the Ukraine flight, the Federal Republic is at the same time affected by a large number of asylum seekers from other regions of the world. The asylum seekers, who mostly move illegally via Turkey or North Africa to Greece, Italy and Spain, sooner or later migrate further north from there – most often to Germany.

This year again, by far the largest number of first-time asylum applications were recorded in this country in Europe. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), by the end of September there were around 135,000 in the current year, a good third more than in the same period last year. As in previous years, the main countries of origin in 2022 are Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq.

It is noteworthy that the overall protection rate – i.e. the proportion of asylum seekers who receive refugee, subsidiary or deportation protection from the BAMF – has risen to 56 percent. In recent years, usually only about a third of the applicants have been recognized. The record high is also due to the fact that decisions are now being taken on many applications from Syrians who had been recognized as refugees in Greece in recent years - but then moved to Germany to submit new applications. These cases have been postponed for a long time and are now being processed bit by bit; they almost always end in recognition.

Another reason for the unusually high recognition rate is that the Afghans who have been immigrating to Germany in large numbers for a decade have mostly been recognized since the Taliban took power; previously this was only roughly the case for every second person. The vast majority of Iraqis and Turks will not receive a protective title this year either; however, even rejected applicants are only brought back to their homeland in very small numbers.

In addition, the last federal governments have increasingly created regulations that not only grant asylum seekers, once recognized, temporary protection until the end of the respective war or the persecution situation, but also a permanent right to stay together with a relatively quick right to naturalization. The current government wants to further accelerate this.

The Federal Police had informed WELT AM SONNTAG that the number of “unauthorized entries into Germany detected” has increased noticeably since June 2022 “outside of the statistical and seasonal fluctuations”. According to this, 12,701 entries were recorded in September. That was almost 50 percent more than in August and almost twice as many as in the summer months of June and July.

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