Menu
Search
Beneficiaries of protection travelling to their country of origin ,
Source: BAMF
The study examines individual reasons for travels of beneficiaries of protection to their country of origin, the international and national legal framework as well as administrative reporting channels and the incident-related revocation procedure.
Travels abroad and in the country of origin
Beneficiaries of protection travelling abroad or to their country of origin have repeatedly been a subject of controversial discussion in the last few years. The background to this is the question of the extent to which travel to the country of origin leads to the loss of the protection granted to persons by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees as part of their asylum procedure. In principle, beneficiaries of international protection are entitled to freedom of movement as other legally residing third-country nationals. This includes travelling abroad. However, travelling to the country of origin is another matter. Doing so is permissible only in specific cases or may under specific conditions rather lead to the revocation of the protection and residence status.
Reasons for travelling to the country of origin
There may be many reasons for travelling to the country of origin, such as illness or death of family members, family members or friends being in distress, marriage or divorce proceedings, inheritance or other personal or business matters, ‘homesickness’ and a prolonged separation from family members or also ‘leisure’ purposes. Some of these reasons for travelling to the country of origin are compatible with the status of beneficiary of protection, others are not. This list of potential reasons does not mean that there is automatically a reason to revoke the protection status. Rather, each case has to be assessed individually within a revocation procedure by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees whether the travel to the country of origin may lead to a revocation of the protection status.
International, European and national legal framework
The cessation clauses of the Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees are already "based on the consideration that international protection should not be granted where it is no longer necessary or justified" (UNHCR 2011: 27). This applies, among others, to recognised refugees who voluntarily re-avail themselves of the protection of the country of their nationality or who voluntarily re-establish themselves in the country which they left owing to fear of persecution. The provisions of the Geneva Convention are reflected in both European law (Qualification Directive 2011/95/EU and Asylum Procedure Directive 2013/32/EU) and in national law under the so-called cessation grounds (Section 72 of the Asylum Act).
Until July 2015 travels to the country of origin or contact with the authorities of the country of origin could lead to a cessation of the protection status, which meant that the protection status lapsed by law. This was in the responsibility of the foreigners office. However, since July 2015 the EU Asylum Procedures Directive has been binding in a national context and thus, in cases of travels to the country of origin or contact with the authorities of the country of origin there is only one procedure in question, the revocation procedure, which implies an individual assessment of the case by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Sections 73 et seqq. of the Asylum Act).
Revocation grounds
In most cases, the Federal Police learns of such a travel when the passport of a person is checked at the airport, who was granted a protection status in Germany. However, foreigners authorities, job centres and labour offices or other authorities may sometimes learn of such travels or authority contacts, too. The national administrations are obliged to notify the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in case they learn about a travel.
In order to examine the revocation grounds, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees usually starts a revocation procedure once it becomes aware of a beneficiary’s travelling to the country of origin or contacting the authorities of the country of origin. This is an incidentrelated revocation procedure in contrast to a regular revocation procedure for beneficiaries of protection.
Within the examination of revocation grounds in the case of beneficiaries of protection travelling to their country of origin the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has to take into account three fundamental criteria:
- whether the travel is voluntary,
- the intention to re-avail him- or herself of the protection of his or her country of origin
- and the actual utilization of the protection.
If, for example, a person entitled to protection has been forced to travel to his or her country of origin and subsequently manages to return to Germany, this is not voluntary and therefore not the basis for revoking the protection status. This must be proven by the person concerned and made credible. Besides the three fundamental criteria, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees takes further criteria into account within the revocation procedure, such as the length and reason of travel, the type of entry as well as the place of residence in the country of origin.
Furthermore, the study documents the single administrative procedures within the revocation procedure, the obligations of the beneficiary of protection to cooperate and the possible consequences on the residence status in the event of revocation of the protection status.
Infographic and EMN comparative publications on the topic
An infographic produced for this study gives an overview of the single phases from the departure and reentry, the individual reasons for the travel to the country of origin, the procedures to be followed if authorities become aware of such a travel, the revocation procedure for the protection status, the obligations of the beneficiary of protection to cooperate and the possible consequences on the residence status in the event of revocation of the protection status. The infographic itself may be downloaded separately (s. Download) and may be found on pages 40/41 of the study.
Working Paper 84 was authored as part of the European Migration Network (EMN) and is therewith also drafted by the other participating EU Member States and Norway. Both the single national studies as well as the comparative EMN publications (EMN Synthesis Report, EMN Inform and the EMN Flash) on the topic will be published on this website as soon as they are published.
The study has been revised after its first publication and is now available in its revised edition (as of 6 March 2019).
Author of the study: Janne Grote