The Immigration Story

There is an interesting short piece from Focus today....on asylum, immigration and visa-approval.

A private foundation went out and did the statistics over immigration....with data provided by BamF (the German Federal Office for Migration).

They note that in 2014....a lot of the migrant movement into German wasn't really from Iraq or Syria....it was from the Balkans.  Roughly eighty percent of the folks from Albania....on a migration or asylum application....failed.  Just because they entered the country and were counted on the 450,000 group....really doesn't mean much.

Roughly half of the applicants from the 2014 crowd....were failed applicants.  You can throw in the North Africans with the Balkans folks.

The Syrians?  They were approved for a long-term visa at a 99-percent rate.  The one-percent failing?  No one says much....it might be curious who was in this group and how they failed.

So you start to realize that while the Germans acted like there was an open door, and great opportunity for a visa....no, there really wasn't a great opportunity.  It all depended on who you were, your job or educational background, and if you were from a 'favored' country or region (like Syria and it's ISIS-war).

Getting some German political figure to admit this on TV or in a chat-forum?  Forget about it...it'll never been discussed.  Getting a German journalist to talk over the failed applicant numbers?  Forget about it.

So from the 2013 to 2016 era....you have to figure about 2-million roughly entered the country to claim asylum, immigration or migration status.  If you were from an EU state (like Poland)....no problem.  If you were from the Balkans.....you have to go through the process, and if you didn't have a career or educational 'card' to lay down....the odds are that you didn't get approved.

How many failed?  That's where you don't get a straight answer.  Sometimes, they had these issues which popped up where they approved a visa, then discovered several months later that the young guy in question had a fraudulent passport.  Or you had some cases where the guy came to realize that the big job that he aspired to gain.....was basically a burger-flipper and there wasn't enough to do much more than pay your rent or basic requirements.  Some just looked at the lifestyle thing and said no....they were not that enthusiastic.

The Syrians with the better education or past craft?  They actually got a jump-start on things and probably integrated better than people realize.....but this is mostly due to Assad's priority in Syria of putting money into educational opportunities.