Germany’s Special Representative for Migration Agreements, Joachim Stamp, has warned refugees living in Germany not to travel back to their home countries as this could jeopardise their legal status as refugees.
“Germany must remain open to the world, but not stupid,” Stamp told the German tabloid Bild. “The authorities must ensure that people who have applied for protection here but then go on holiday to their home country immediately lose their protected status and are no longer allowed to stay in Germany. Period.”
Andy Grote, Hamburg’s Senator for the Interior, told dpa that refugees who return to the country where they claim to have been victims of persecution naturally also question their protection status.
The officials were responding to reports from German commercial broadcaster RTL that travel agencies in the northern German port city of Hamburg were organising trips to the Hindu Kush for people from Afghanistan.
“If there are easily accessible travel routes to Afghanistan, there is also the possibility of repatriation,” Grote warned.
The Federal Office for Migration and Fusiliers (BAMF) noted that travel to a refugee’s country of origin may be permitted in individual cases, for example due to serious illness or the death of close relatives.
In response to questions, the federal agency said it examines each individual case to determine whether to revoke protections granted after it becomes known that a person has traveled home.
However, the authority says it does not have precise data on how often protection has been withdrawn and does not publish general statistics on such assessments.
