The authority , format: Article, area: Authority

The decentralised structure

The Federal Office is a Federal authority within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). With its decentralised locations, including branch offices, arrival centres and decision-making centres, it is in direct contact with all players in refugee protection and integration work.

Arrival centres:

The arrival centres are the central entry point when it comes to the asylum procedure. It is in the arrival centres that all the steps are carried out under one roof which are necessary for the asylum procedure. This includes the medical examination by the Länder, the recording of the personal data and the identity check, the application, the interview and the Federal Office’s decision on the asylum application, as well as the initial advice on access to the labour market by the local Employment Agency.

Branch offices/regional offices:

It is in the branch offices that the Federal Office carries out the asylum procedure, with the filing of the application, the interview and the decision on more complex cases. Some branch offices, known as “regional offices”, offer a point of contact for the organisations operating integration activities, and are responsible for the integration work on the ground.

Decision-making centres:

It is in the decision-making centres that the decision is taken on the asylum applications which are ready to be decided on of those applicants who have already been interviewed. This particularly relates to applications lodged by individuals from unsafe countries of origin such as Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. The decision-making centres thus take some of the strain from the arrival centres and branch offices.

Staff skill-building

In order to successfully carry out the varied tasks, the Federal Office ensures that its staff are provided with the further training they need in an efficiently-organised manner.

Newly-recruited staff are prepared for their future tasks in a Centre for Qualification. This guarantees that they have a high level of skills.

The Federal Office plays a major role in the process of intercultural opening within the Federal administration. One of the goals here is to increase the share of staff with a migration background. Active diversity management promotes the inherent potential of all. A further cornerstone of staff skill-building is to increase the intercultural awareness of all the staff at the Federal Office.

The Federal Office offers various training places on an annual basis, for instance as an "office management assistant", an "IT specialist" and as a "specialist in media and information services".