The typically open boarders government of Germany announced a temporary halt on admissions of asylum seekers from Afghanistan after claims that some migrants may have been abusing the system.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that the country would be halting asylum applications for Afghan nationals on a temporary basis after sources within Berlin indicated that some may have tried to abuse the system.
Both the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry have allegedly probed activities at the German embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan where the abuses may have taken place, but the German government has yet to specify what type of abuses may have occurred, the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.
Since halting the applications, the embassy has added a new security questionnaire to the application process ahead of resuming the acceptance of new applications.
Since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in the summer of 2021, Germany has issued over 28,600 visas to Afghan nationals, with around 30,000 Afghans being able to enter Germany, a number shy of the promised 44,000. At least 4,100 are said to be Afghans who worked for Germany’s armed forces or were locally employed staff for various aid groups.
While the German government has remained tight-lipped regarding the potential abuses in the asylum process, there was a similar case reported in 2020 involving the Swedish embassy in Islamabad.
According to reports, an unnamed man had approved at least 120 incorrect visas for Afghan nationals to work in Sweden, with the man’s activities investigated after authorities suspected in 2019 that he may have been linked to people smuggling networks.
Prosecutors convicted the former embassy official the following year after various companies, including telecommunications giant Ericsson, testified that many of the offers of employment used to get the visas had been forgeries. While prosecutors attempted to have the man imprisoned, the court handed down a six-month suspended sentence in the case.