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The Federal Office is responsible for

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establishing the asylum seeker’s 
identity.

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One component of this procedure for 
identifying an asylum seeker’s identity

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is the examination to establish the 
authenticity of the identity 
documents presented. 

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This is intended to prevent false 
Identities from being used

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in asylum procedures.

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In addition, evidence

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such as arrest documents or court 
judgments

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are examined to check their
authenticity.

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This is done to check the credibility

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of the reasons for forced migration
presented by asylum seekers.

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When examining documents,

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physical and technical methods are
used

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to check their authenticity.

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In doing so, the document examiners
and document experts use

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microscopes
offering different resolution

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and various types of equipment,
that use different wavelengths

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to illuminate the documents.

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The documents are examined using
comparative material

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to establish if there are any deviations

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or evidence of manipulation.

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Document experts are
specialised professionals,

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who, having gained a degree in 
science,

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print engineering or administrative 
science,

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have completed additional training.

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This training takes around three years
 to complete.

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Some of the training is delivered at the
Federal Office,

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in the document laboratory,

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and some is delivered at the 
Federal Criminal Police Office.

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The training ends with an examination.

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The Federal Office
for Migration and Refugees

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examines each and every document 
presented in asylum procedures to 
check their authenticity.

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In 2021, it examined around
170,000 documents

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and documents were of course not
examined by the 50 head office
employees alone. 

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That is why the examination of 
documents is divided into three stages.

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There are 160 preliminary examiners at
the branches.

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They complete 80 percent of document
examinations.

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It therefore true to say that
this is the most important
stage of document examination.

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Of the documents examined,

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40 percent are passports and identity
cards

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and 60 percent are civil status 
documents.

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These documents comprise
birth certificates, family record books,

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marriage certificates and register 
excerpts.

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If the examination 
at the third stage reveals

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that the document was actually
 counterfeit or forged,

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the document experts draw up an 
expert opinion.

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This report is also sent to the 
competent Land Criminal Police Offices

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which institute investigative 
proceedings.

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However, this also means that our
document experts

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may be summoned to attend court 
proceedings

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at which they have to defend their
expert opinion.

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In the year 2020, out of
the 170,000 documents examined,

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2 percent were queried.

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They include total counterfeits on the 
one hand,

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and forged documents on
the other.

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Documents are total counterfeits 

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if all of the document components 
have been copied.

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Counterfeits are determined

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if, for instance,
the date of birth has been changed

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or the photograph has been replaced.

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The work is interesting because it is
extremely varied.

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On the one hand, it offers the diversity 
of documents and countries of origin, 

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on the other hand, you always come
across new forgeries.

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New methods of examination are 
constantly coming on stream,

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which basically means the work never 
gets boring.

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It is also a very meaningful
job

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because we are contributing to
 Germany’s internal security

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not just for the people who were born
here,

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but also for those who come to us 
seeking protection.