Friday, May 27, 2022

Ukrainians in Germany

 As of two weeks ago, the official number of Ukrainians registered in Germany was near 700,000. I noticed on N24 news this AM....around 80,000 Ukrainians were registered for German language/integration classes (free, paid by the German gov't)

The general belief?  Long-term?  There's a fair amount of belief (on the German side) that tens of thousands of Ukrainians will not be ever returning to the homeland....mostly because of the amount of war left, and the decades required to rebuild. 

Anyone really negative about the Ukrainians in Germany?  Well...no.  

You might find ethnic-Russians in Germany with a particular attitude but it's nowhere near what existed in the 2013-2016 era.  

How big was the ethnic-Ukraine group in Germany, before the war?  The government puts the numbers at around 150,000.

But this also begs the question.....aren't a fair number of Russians fed up with the current political landscape, and looking for an exit as well?  I read last week that the German government (since the war started) has approved around 400 work-permits for Russians who had job offers, and wanted status in Germany.  I would expect more work-visas by the end of the year.

How this all influences Germany in the future?  It's an unknown factor.

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