Apply for asylum

Description

Filing an application

An application for asylum must be submitted to the competent authority, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Foreigners seeking protection from persecution in Germany can also identify themselves as asylum seekers to other state authorities. For example, at the police, at a Foreigners Office or directly at an initial reception centre (EAE). This is the case in Munich:

• Government of Upper Bavaria
  Arrival centre for asylum seekers
  Maria-Probst-Straße 14
  80939 Munich

Asylum seekers can appear at the reception centre day and night; places may also be allocated by the security service outside party opening hours.

Asylum seekers are referred from the initial reception centre to the branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. In Munich this is:

• Munich (Hearing Centre)
  Streitfeldstraße 39
  81673 Munich
  Telephone: 089 620290
  Fax: 0911 943 91 5621
  E-Mail: MUC-Posteingang@bamf.bund.de

If the capacity of the initial reception centre in Munich is exhausted or another branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is responsible for the country of origin, the asylum seekers will be forwarded.

The asylum application is submitted at the responsible branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Applicants must always appear in person for this purpose. Asylum seeker status is only granted once the application has been submitted.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees informs asylum seekers about the asylum procedure and about their rights and obligations during the procedure.

Identity check

At the branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, personal data is first recorded. They are compared with the data of asylum seekers who are already registered with the Federal Office and with the Central Register of Foreigners. This is to determine whether the application is a first-time application, a follow-up application or possibly a multiple application.

Applicants are fingerprinted and photographed. This does not apply to persons who have not yet reached the age of 14. The Federal Criminal Police Office then stores and analyses the fingerprints. They are also compared with the help of a system that records fingerprints throughout Europe (Eurodac). This is used to check whether applicants have already applied for asylum in another EU member state or have stayed there elsewhere.

Right of residence

After they have submitted their asylum application, asylum seekers receive a residence permit from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to carry out the asylum procedure(residence permit). This is initially limited to the district in which the initial reception centre that has accepted the asylum seekers is located.

For asylum seekers in the initial reception centre in Munich, the permit is geographically limited to the city of Munich. As long as the accommodation in the initial reception centre in Munich has not ended, the responsibility for immigration and residence law issues lies with the

• Government of Upper Bavaria
  Central Foreigners Office
  Hofmannstr. 51
  81379 Munich
  Telephone: 089 2176-0

Accommodation

According to the Asylum Procedure Act, asylum seekers are initially obliged to live in an initial reception centre for a period of up to 3 months.

Following their time in the initial reception centre in Munich, asylum seekers are distributed among the Bavarian administrative districts. The government reception centres of the government of Upper Bavaria allocate the people to shared accommodation by means of an allocation notice. With the allocation, the responsibility for foreigners and residence law is usually transferred to the Foreigners Office of the new place of residence.

Change of address

If asylum seekers have received authorisation or an obligation to move within Munich or to another city during the asylum procedure, they must inform the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees of their new address themselves.

Moving out of shared accommodation

Asylum seekers and other persons entitled to benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act are generally accommodated in shared accommodation. Exceptions to this can be requested from

• Government of Upper Bavaria
  Maximilianstr. 39
  80358 Munich
  Telephone: 089 2176-0

Subsistence

Asylum seekers receive social benefits in accordance with the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act.

After one year has passed since applying for asylum, you can apply for a work permit at the local Foreigners Office.

Prerequisites

• Only politically persecuted persons are entitled to recognition as persons entitled to asylum. Politically persecuted persons are persons who have suffered state persecution on the basis of characteristics relevant to asylum, such as race, religion, nationality, specific membership of a social group, political conviction or comparable personal characteristics or behaviour, or who are at imminent risk of state persecution.
• Foreigners can only apply for asylum if they are in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is not possible to apply for asylum from abroad or at a German diplomatic mission abroad.

Legal basis

• Art. 16a Basic Law
• Asylum Act
• Asylum Seekers Benefits Act
• Reception Act