So far, one in three tolerated persons who have lived in Germany for more than five years has filed an application under the “Opportunity Residence Act”. It is an opportunity to acquire a permanent right to stay in Germany. According to a survey by the Integration media service, 49,000 applications have been submitted since the beginning of the year. 17,000 of these have been granted, while 2,100 applications have been rejected.
The “residence permit on probation” had been introduced on December 31 of last year. To clear the first hurdle on the way from toleration to residence permit, three requirements are important:
– Refugees must have lived in Germany with a toleration permit for five years or longer,
– they must not have committed any criminal offenses,
– and they must not have given false information about their identity.
If the application is approved, citizens’ benefits are paid instead of benefits under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act. Migrants with “Chancenaufenthalt” then have 18 months to meet the requirements for a right to stay. To avoid falling back into toleration after one and a half years, they must finance most of their living costs themselves, have sufficient German language skills (A2) and have clarified their identity.
At last count, 137,000 tolerated persons had been living in Germany for more than five years. This is recorded in the Central Register of Foreigners. The number of applications submitted varies greatly between the federal states—although the figures change rapidly. In Berlin (59 percent) and Bavaria (58 percent), most migrants have applied for the new status.
In Baden-Württemberg, 901 men and women have already been granted “opportunity residence”. A total of 21,000 tolerated persons have been living in the state for longer than five years. The state government had already decided in October to no longer deport well-integrated tolerated persons in view of the new law.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior expects 98,000 migrants to apply and 33,500 people to be granted a permanent right to stay.
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Das Landratsamt in Tübingen. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Mostafa Elyasian.
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