Germany: Rent subsidies for irregular migrants who return home

The German government has launched an ad campaign which offers irregular migrants financial incentives to return to their home countries. Almost 2,500 billboards with the message “Your country. Your future. Now!” have been erected in around 80 German cities.

The ads are in German, English, Farsi, French, Arabic, Russian and Pashto, and feature the flags of countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. The Interior Ministry website says the “campaign is not targeted at people who live legally in Germany. The legality of their presence here is not in question.”

The programme that the ad campaign promotes was launched in May 2017 and aims to encourage migrants without a legal status in Germany to apply for support to return home. Over 1,000 government and non-government counselling centres have also been set up around the country to help irregular migrants understand their options.

In addition to asylum seekers whose cases are pending or whose claims have been rejected, the repatriation programme is also offered to refugees with a residence permit who want to return, and to victims of human trafficking.

Depending on their nationality, volunteer returnees can receive up to EUR 1,200 if they return before the asylum procedure is completed or EUR 800 after a rejected claim. They would also receive subsidies for rent of up to EUR 3,000 for a family or EUR 1,000 for a single person.

Citizens of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan are the top priority and receive slightly greater financial assistance than citizens of the other more than 35 countries from Europe, Africa and Asia who will also benefit from the programme.

According to the German ministry of interior, around 235,000 persons in Germany are required to leave the country. Between 2013 and 2017, over 140,000 returned to their country of origin or a third country with the help of the German government.

TMP – 10/01/2019

Photo caption: German interior ministry billboards to encourage migrants to leave Germany

Photo credit: Aya Ibrahim/ Twitter