The great French historian Fernand Braudel was convinced that history is geography and economics — more often than not, the economics of neighboring peoples. As far as one can tell, nothing has changed to this day, even though no one goes on raids on swift steeds anymore — there's faster transportation now. People flee to other countries not only to escape wars, but most often in search of a better life. But among the whole diversity of nomadic peoples, there is one that never galloped in on horseback with a drawn sabre, hoping to profit from plunder. That people is the Jews. Throughout Europe's long history, they were forced to flee for entirely different reasons — reasons of discrimination.
Contingent Refugees
Changes to the Admission Rules
The rules for admitting Jewish emigrants to Germany have changed several times — it's important to consider the version of the law in force at the time the application was submitted.
From 1991 to 2001, all of Germany's federal states accepted Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. This arrangement was established at the time by the federal states' prime ministers on the basis of the so-called "Law on Contingent Refugees" (the Law on Measures for Refugees Admitted under Humanitarian Aid Actions, Kontingentfluechtlingsgesetz, also Gesetz ueber Massnahmen fuer im Rahmen humanitaerer Hilfsaktionen aufgenommene Fluechtlinge, HumHAG). The law on admitting Jewish emigrants from the USSR for permanent residence in Germany ("Gesetz über Massnahmen fuer im Rahmen humanitaerer Hilfsaktionen aufgenommene Fluechtlinge") was adopted on April 12, 1990, at a session of the East German People's Chamber, and represented a form of compensation for the losses Jews suffered during the Second World War — responsibility for which the socialist leadership of East Germany had not previously acknowledged. After reunification, this law was adopted by the government of unified Germany (although the interior ministries of the Federal Republic and of various federal states had planned to introduce stricter admission rules for "Jewish refugees"), and it remained in force until the Federal Republic adopted the new Immigration Act ("Zuwanderungsgesetz") on January 1, 2005.
With the adoption of the Immigration Act on January 1, 2005, HumHAG lost its force. From that point on, Jewish immigrants to Germany have had to apply for entry under the new law. Applicants must:
- be citizens of one of the states that were former members of the Soviet Union, or reside as stateless persons in one of those states, since at least January 1, 2005;
- be of Jewish nationality — that is, have at least one parent of Jewish descent, or at least one grandparent of Jewish descent — and must not practice any other faith;
- have German language proficiency at least at the level of the Start Deutsch A1 certificate under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This also applies to family members, with the exception of children under 14 years of age, provided the move to Germany takes place before they turn 15;
- prove that one of Germany's Jewish communities will accept them. This is proven by an expert opinion from the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany (Zentralen Wohlfahrtsstelle der Juden), requested by the Federal Office. The Union of Progressive Jews (Union der Progressiven Juden) is also involved in this expert-opinion procedure and may issue its own assessment;
- demonstrate a positive integration potential. The Federal Office assesses integration potential based on the application, taking the family situation into account as well. Criteria for assessing integration potential include, among other things, language proficiency, qualifications, education and work experience, and the applicants' age.
Taking these criteria into account, points are calculated, with a minimum score of no less than 50 points required. There is no fixed formula for calculating the score, since the official makes the decision on the above requirements at their own discretion. Naturally, before the procedure begins, and once applicants and their family members have provided lawyers with all the available information, it is possible to estimate in advance the likely score (chances of success), including identifying risks, the necessary steps to take, and the list of documents/information needed to reduce the risk of a refusal.
An exception applies to persons born before 1945 who are regarded as victims of National Socialism — they are not required to meet the above criteria or accumulate the corresponding points.
Moses and Esther
Two elderly people had filed their documents to move to Germany back in 1991, when they still had plenty of strength, but never took the opportunity and stayed on in their Moscow apartment. They saw their children off and stayed behind themselves, hoping for the swift flourishing of a democratic Russia. The years passed; Russia seemed to be on the verge of "getting back on its feet," only to collapse again, like a drunk swaying on weakened knees. The years passed.
Healthcare kept getting worse, and their health followed the same trajectory. It made sense to move closer to their children. Fortunately, the latest amendments to the aforementioned law allowed them to reapply.
The daughter of Moses and Esther came to our law firm. Having signed a representation agreement for our clients in Germany, the lawyer, based on the legal framework and past legal practice in similar situations, expected the case to be a pure formality: Moses and Esther had every prerequisite for a favorable resolution of their matter. But who hasn't been caught off guard before? Even though the legal analysis and the presence of all the required documents suggested that obtaining the desired decision would be simple and predictable, no one could have guessed that the clients' own documents would become the main problem in this case.
The officials decided not to treat as reliable any documents issued in the territory of the former USSR after 1991, on the grounds that, in the German officials' view, any document from that period could simply be bought. It cannot be said that this decision was made without basis, but for our law firm's clients, it was far from welcome news. The problem was that the elderly couple had lost the originals of their birth certificates and Moses's military service card. Under these circumstances, fast and precise decisions had to be made — and our lawyers found them.
Everything Will Be Fine
Immediately after the refusal of refugee status was received, our lawyer filed an application with the court to overturn the migration authorities' decision. Before the court hearing, evidence had to be gathered showing that our clients held duplicates of genuine documents. The main doubt that new copies of lost documents could raise came down to just one thing — the "nationality" field. It was therefore necessary to find proof of Moses and Esther's Jewish ethnicity.
The clients' entire extended family was quickly mobilized. Every possible piece of information about surviving documents within the family had to be gathered. During this inquiry, it turned out that Moses's own sister still had the original of her birth certificate, which clearly stated that her parents were of Jewish nationality. This was direct evidence supporting the authenticity of the information in Moses's birth certificate. It also turned out that Esther's mother had worked as a judge — which could only mean one thing to us: her personnel file was sitting somewhere in an archive. After a formal request was submitted, the file was indeed retrieved from the archive, and her personnel card listed her nationality as "Jewish." All that remained was to translate the documents and submit them to the court.
Now elderly, Moses and Esther are spending their later years surrounded by their children and grandchildren in Berlin. This was made possible only thanks to the professional, prompt assistance of our firm's lawyers. The point is that decisions on granting Jewish-refugee status are not made by the German embassy in Russia. The decision is made by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees of the Federal Republic of Germany (BAMF). Had they sought legal help within Russia instead, the effect would have been nil, at a high financial cost.
If any difficulties arise, Russian lawyers have essentially no way to influence how the case proceeds — from Moscow, say. And in most cases, that kind of "help" is hard to describe as anything other than unqualified. This does not, however, apply to firms that partner with German lawyers. Our law firm also maintains a representative partner network across all the former Soviet republics that are not part of the European Union. If you or your relatives want to be confident in the outcome and minimize the risk of a refusal, the first step should be to contact professionals (lawyers) on these matters in Germany.
All rights reserved. Copying or republishing this article requires a link to the original source.
