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Arrival and registration ,
All asylum-seekers arriving in Germany must report to a state organisation on arrival or immediately thereafter. They can do this as soon as they reach the border or later within the country.
Anyone already reporting as seeking asylum on entry reports to the border authority. This authority then sends asylum-seekers on to the closest initial reception centre.
Anyone who does not make a request for asylum until they are in Germany can report to a security authority (such as the police), an immigration authority, a reception facility or directly to an arrival centre or AnkER facility.
Registration
All individuals reporting as seeking asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany are registered. This is carried out at "PIK" (Personalisation Infrastructure Component) stations by the Federal or Land police, by staff of the BAMF in the branch offices and arrival centres or by staff of the Länder at reception facilities, immigration authorities and arrival centres.
Personal data are recorded at this point. All applicants are photographed; the fingerprints are also taken of people aged over 6.
The recorded data are stored centrally in the "Central Register of Foreigners". All public agencies which subsequently need them for their respective tasks have access to these data to the extent that they need them for their respective remits.
In a first step, the new data are compared with those already available in the Central Register of Foreigners, as well as with those of the Federal Criminal Police Office. It is examined amongst other things whether an initial application, a subsequent application or possibly a multiple application has been made. It is also investigated using a Europe-wide system (Eurodac) whether another European state might be responsible for carrying out the asylum procedure.
Issuing a temporary identification document: the proof of arrival
Asylum-seekers receive a proof of arrival (Ankunftsnachweis) at the reception facility or arrival centre of the Federal Office which is responsible for them to prove that they have registered.
As the first official document, the proof of arrival serves to document entitlement to reside in Germany. And what is equally important is that it constitutes an entitlement to draw state benefits, such as accommodation, medical treatment and food.
The introduction of the proof of arrival for asylum-seekers gives to the "Asylum-seeker Registration Certificate" (BüMA), which previously was non-standard and varied from one Federal Land to another, a new design which is the same all over the country, and which furthermore contains security characteristics.
Background information
The Central Register of Foreigners (Ausländerzentralregister)
The data collected during registration are stored in the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR). The Register is a nationwide, personal file which is centrally managed by the Federal Office. It contains information on people from abroad who are or were resident in Germany. All the immigration authorities work with these data in performing their tasks.