Welcome to Schleswig-Holstein.
To begin with, you have been given accommodation in a preliminary reception centre. Here, people will give you further assistance. You will be looked after and you will be given your first lessons in German. You will only stay and have your meals in the preliminary reception centre for a time. There is also a doctor here in the centre. You will be registered here, and after some time you will be moved to accommodation in a different town or municipality.
You have arrived in Schleswig-Holstein. This is the most northern federal state in Germany and the only state lying between 2 seas: the Baltic and the North Sea. To the north, we border on Denmark. For many years, people from different ethnic groups and nations have been living together here in Schleswig-Holstein. People here are open, friendly and tolerant – and they all wish you a warm welcome.
Schleswig-Holstein has an area of 15,800 square kilometres and has some 2.8 million inhabitants. The largest city is the state capital Kiel. There are only comparatively few large towns but a large number of smaller municipalities. The name of the state premier (Minister-President) of Schleswig-Holstein is Daniel Günther.
People in Schleswig-Holstein work mainly in the following fields: services industry, maritime technology, tourism, renewable energy and medical technology.
We use the word ‟refugee” to refer to all persons who flee to us from their own country in search of protection. We wish you a warm welcome here!
According to Article 1 of the Geneva Convention on Refugees (GCR) and § 3 of the German Asylum Act (AsylG), a refugee is defined as any person who is outside the country of his nationality because he is threatened with persecution in that home country for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a certain social group and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
Besides this definition, there is a further, more extended meaning of the concept ‟refugee” which is used in everyday language. This is used as a rule to refer to persons whose presence is tolerated in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. persons who have either not submitted an application for asylum or whose application has remained unsuccessful.
As soon as you inform the authorities on or after your arrival in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany that you are seeking protection from persecution or from other harmful events in your country of origin, your case will be treated as an application for asylum. From this point on, you will be granted preliminary protection and you will be issued a certificate that you have submitted an application as an asylum- seeker.
You will then proceed to the reception centre named in this certificate. Here, your personal details will be recorded, and if this has not already been performed your finger-prints will be taken and a medical examination conducted. How long you stay in the reception centre will depend on your nationality.
During the early stages of your stay in the reception centre, a formal application for asylum will generally be made with the associated branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and a hearing conducted on your reasons for fleeing from your home country. After this, you will be assigned inside Schleswig-Holstein to different administrative districts or administratively independent towns/cities for accommodation, care and assistance.
Depending on the number of refugees allocated to reception centres, it may be the case that your asylum application can only be made after you have been assigned to other locations inside Schleswig-Holstein. If you are a citizen of a safe country of origin, you will remain in the reception centre during the entire asylum proceedings.
In the course of the asylum procedure, it will first be reviewed on the basis of your finger-prints taken which member or user state of the EU Regulation on Responsibility for Asylum-Seekers (so-called Dublin III Regulation) is responsible for conducting asylum proceedings. In the event that this is not Germany, you will be called upon by the BAMF to return to the member state that is responsible.
In cases in which proceedings are conducted in Germany, the BAMF will be responsible for deciding on your application for asylum. If the decision reached is a positive one, it is possible for four different types of protection status to be determined. You may be granted one or several such types of status. The four types of status are as follows:
Depending on your protection status, you will first be granted a temporary residence permit with different rights. As a rule, you will then be granted permanent rights of residence (which will differ according to your protection status). If the decision reached is a negative one, you will be called upon by the BAMF under threat of deportation to leave the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. You may enter legal proceedings against this decision. You should discuss how to proceed in your individual case with legal counsel or at least with a legal advice office
In order to be able to find your way successfully in Germany, it is important that you should learn the German language. To do this, you have the possibility to participate in various language courses offered by voluntary or full-time providers in Schleswig-Holstein.
