Hardship Commission: More residence permits, fewer consecutive exceptional leaves to remain

Last year, the Berlin Hardship Commission helped more rejected asylum seekers obtain a residence permit.

As the Senate Department for the Interior announced on Thursday, the commission dealt with a total of 305 cases in 2022, which affected 483 people. Senator for the Interior Iris Spranger (SPD) has so far decided on 202 cases. Almost all cases (96 percent) received a positive answer from the SPD politician, meaning that the State Office for Immigration could issue a residence permit to the people in question. According to the information provided by the Senate, mainly people from countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Russia were affected.

Higher rate of positive decisions

According to the Senate Department for the Interior, 76.7 percent of cases were approved in 2021. The higher rate was due to efforts to end consecutive exceptional leaves to remain (Duldung) and to take social concerns into account to a higher degree. In many cases, residence permits were issued under strict conditions.

Residence permits for people with urgent humanitarian or personal reasons

"The Hardship Commission supports people for whom an obligation to leave the country is not viable for humanitarian or personal reasons," Spranger said. "It's about giving people who have spent their entire lives in Germany, for example, people who are socially and economically integrated into the society of our city, a reliable chance and a real perspective." Section 23 of the Residence Act offers the possibility of granting a residence permit for urgent humanitarian or personal reasons, if the member of the Senate responsible for the right of residence takes up a request for hardship from the Hardship Commission.