'Vacationing' in Syria Comment

It's a three-line story but has a bit of curiosity attached to it.

Over the weekend, Germany's Interior Minister (Horst Seehofer, CSU) made a comment that if you were a Syrian in Germany.....on a refugee status visa....and continually 'vacationing' in Syria, then you ought to have your refugee status 'revoked'.

So what's the whole thing about?

Well, some Syrians who arrived in Germany....have relatives and property back in Syria.  Things in the past two years have drifted back to a fairly peaceful status.  Some Syrians (holding a visa) are quietly buying airline tickets and going back to visit the old country.  It's just a visit....not an exit from Germany. 

Some Germans (hard to say if it's substantial or not) think this isn't correct for you to hold this refugee visa, and vacation in the old country. 

Laws against it?  That's the amusing thing.....there's nothing substantial to use on this situation.  Seehofer would have to write up a law, and get the SPD to go along with this.  Odds of this happening?  Zero percent chance right now.

The other question that really should be asked....just how many folks are flying back for a visit to Syria?  If this is a thousand per year.....it's not worth discussing.  If this were 25,000 a year.....well, it might be worth some minor discussion.

Here's the thing that you have to think about.....are you going to write up a law that says these countries are forbidden to you while in refugee status and holding a German visa?  I doubt it.

This whole refugee status business should have been discussed out twenty years ago, and some categories developed to ensure folks got safety status but limited to a period of time (like one year max).  In the present business, no one has desired to establish a real program, or lay out the path for different categories. 

So this comment from the weekend....is just a lot of 'hot air'?  Yeah, more or less.  It'll get some traction for public forums, and probably a quarter of Germans will agree....vacations in Syria ought to signal that the war is over, and maybe the refugee status ought to evolve into a time-limit.  But don't go expecting anything to occur.