– As stipulated by our laws, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees reviews and revokes protection status, if those affected no longer require protection in Germany due to the stabilization of the situation in Syria, Ms. Faeser said in an interview published on Sunday by the Funke Mediengruppe publisher's newspapers. She emphasized that this would apply to individuals who lack a residence permit for other reasons, such as work or study, and who do not voluntarily return to Syria.
Germany's foreign and interior ministries are working closely together to gain a clearer understanding of the situation in Syria following the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad.
We are particularly focused on security issues,
– Ms. Faeser said, noting that the German government is also in close coopeartion with European and international partners.
Those who've managed to integrate, find jobs, learn German and establish a new home here should be allowed to stay in Germany,
– the minister added.
She stated that those willing to return to their homeland should receive support, while criminals and Islamists must be deported as quickly as possible. The legal tools for this have been significantly expanded and will be utilized as soon as the situation in Syria allows, she stressed.
According to data from the interior ministry, approximately 975,000 Syrians currently reside in Germany, most of whom arrived after 2015 due to the Syrian civil war. Of these, more than 300,000 have subsidiary protection status, meaning they were admitted not because of individual persecution but due to the ongoing civil war in their home country.
Germany recently decided to temporarily halt decisions on asylum applications from Syrian nationals, citing the rapidly changing developments in Syria.
Cover photo: Migrants fleeing the wars in Syria and Afghanistan gather in the garden of Berlin's municipal health and social services office in 2015 (Photo: AFP)
