Menu
Search
The Organisation of Reception Facilities for Asylum Seekers in Germany ,
Source: BAMF
The present study describes the reception and accommodation of asylum seekers in Germany. The study describes the breakdown of competences along federal lines between the Federation and the Länder, and explains the mechanisms with which the reception of asylum seekers is coordinated between the Federal Länder. Furthermore, it illustrates the various procedures with which the Federal Länder organise the accommodation of asylum seekers and shows the different forms of accommodation and how the vital needs of asylum seekers are provided for.
The Federation is responsible for implementing the asylum procedure through the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The Federal Länder are responsible for the accommoda-tion and for providing payments and benefits in kind to cover the vital needs of asylum seek-ers. In order to guarantee that asylum seekers are dispersed evenly among the Federal Länder, a reception quota is set for each Federal Land on the basis of the number of inhabi-tants and tax revenue. The individual Federal Länder have set up initial reception centres for accommodation, to which the branch offices of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees are assigned.
Once the asylum application has been filed, asylum seekers are accommodated in temporary accommodation facilities after up to six weeks, but at the latest after three months. These tasks have been assigned to the municipalities in most of the Federal Länder. In this process, accommodation in both collective accommodation facilities and in individual houses or flats is used. Additionally, there are special facilities for vulnerable groups such as unaccompanied minors, traumatised asylum seekers and persons who have been subjected to sexual violence.
The Working Paper 55 was drawn up by the National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN) at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees as the German contribution towards a comparative European study of the accommodation of asylum seekers. It has been co-financed by EU-funds.
Author: Dr. Andreas Müller