Germany is signatory to the Schengen Agreement. In order to implement the Agreement measures have been taken for effective control of external borders such as strict controls on movements of individuals, restrictive entry requirements by means of a rigid visa issuance policy, combined responsibility for asylum and recognition regulations, and a closely linked cross-border police co-operation with other EU and non EU countries.

More

Germany is signatory to the Schengen Agreement. In order to implement the Agreement measures have been taken for effective control of external borders such as strict controls on movements of individuals, restrictive entry requirements by means of a rigid visa issuance policy, combined responsibility for asylum and recognition regulations, and a closely linked cross-border police co-operation with other EU and non EU countries.

External borders are permanently controlled by more than 10,000 police and customs officers, and the German-Polish and the German-Czech borders are secured by a massive deployment of the federal border police, Bavarian police force, customs, aided by the use of the newest technology (for instance night sight devices, Co2-detection equipment for detection of human breath in sealed trucks).

At the official border crossing points and at airports, EU and non EU citizens are separated, and non EU citizens are carefully controlled. Random controls are also carried out on EU citizens. Border surveillance takes the form of a security screen twenty miles wide along the borders, where identity checks are carried out by the state police forces and the federal border police. The authorities of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria have extended this twenty mile wide control zone to cover their whole territories. Police controls are currently conducted in Saxony, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Thuringia. Along all motorways, main roads, at motorway service areas and at railway stations police can carry out so called 'motiveless controls'.

Foreigners who don’t need a visa to enter Germany can stay three months. EU and EFTA citizens are permitted to work, but must obtain a permit. A person who has a tourist visa can stay in Germany for maximum ninety days, and is not allowed to work.

To obtain a visa the applicant must prove that the period of stay is securely financed (a friend/host in Germany may undertake that s/he agrees to pay for any costs including those of any medical treatment). German representative agencies abroad must submit a positive assessment of the applicant with regard to 'intention to return' and 'means of returning'. According to federal German policy, this entails the following criteria: Evidence of a contract of full-time employment in the country of origin, payment of social insurance contributions, available financial means, proof of existence of a number of one's own family members, an elder who can ascertain that the applicant does not intend to marry or will not require (nursing) care. Grounds for rejection of an application need not be given. The applicant whose visa request has been rejected has the right to appeal to the administrative tribunal immediately after receiving notice of rejection of the visa application. It is recommended however, that the applicant should at first demonstrate his/her opposition to the representative agency's decision. This ought to be submitted in writing. The overseas representative agency will then re-examine the application. If the agency sticks to its original decision of rejection of the application, then the applicant will receive in writing an explanation of the main consideration for refusal of the application. This rejection includes in addition, a legal instruction.

With the Schengen Agreement legal entry into Germany for non EU citizens and asylum seekers has increasingly become more difficult. According to the German Asylum Procedure, Act (1992, amended 1993) aliens entering Germany via a safe third country may not have recourse to article 16a.1 of the Federal Consitution ("Basic Law") and their petition for asylum is rejected. All states of the EU are "safe third countries", as well as Norway, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. It means that legal entry overland into Germany is impossible for asylum seekers. Usually, if a refugee submits a petition for asylum at German external borders, or is caught while s/he’s illegally trying to cross the border (within a twenty mile wide/thirty km zone), there is immediately refusal of entry / expulsion. S/he is returned to the land from which s/he was trying to enter and has to pay for the journey back to the safe third country, if s/he has the means to pay.

For people arriving at border posts within airports and coming from a "safe country of origin", or those without valid papers and submit a petition for asylum, there is a rapid process to decide about his/her request. Safe countries of origin are states in which "the civil and human rights situation and the application of justice and the general political conditions appear to be maintained and in which neither political persecution nor cruel inhuman or degrading treatment nor punishment takes place" ("Basic Law" art 16.3). The list of countries is constantly updated by the German government according to events. In 1997, for instance countries within the list of "safe countries were: Bulgaria, Ghana, Poland, Romania Senegal, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic Hungary.

The applicants mentioned above remain in a camp within the airport, and if their request for asylum is rejected they are deported within ninety days. Petitions must be examined within two days. If the rejection is ‘manifestly unfounded’ then an appeal can be lodged with the administrative tribunal within a period of three days, also as part of a 'rapid process'. The administrative tribunal must decide within fourteen days. If the decision of the Bundesamt takes longer than these two weeks then the refugee is redirected to an initial reception camp.

Applications for asylum are submitted to an electronic registration process, which includes photographs and fingerprints. Comparison with data from other Schengen countries is still expensive, complex and requires a long time: it takes place only when authorities suspect that the refugee has spent time in a neighbour country.

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.

Hide