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| People waiting at the German embassy in Tirana |
The long wait to get an appointment at the German embassy in order to apply for a family reunification visa is covered by the German media following a request by the Left party at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin. The news agency, AFP points out, that in the German embassies in Albania, Serbia, Pakistan and Morocco people wait more than a year just to get a visa schedule. The same is true of Afghans and people in India seeking family reunification. The data come from the response of the Foreign Ministry in Berlin after the request of the parliamentary group Left in the Bundestag, as reported by DW.
To join the family in Germany, foreigners must apply for a visa in their home country. This applies to the parents of minor refugees and the partner or partner of a refugee who already has a residence permit in Germany. Even foreigners who want to join their German partner need a visa from the embassy in the country of origin.
The German Foreign Ministry explains this "partly very long time" with restrictions due to the Corona pandemic. The outbreak of the pandemic has "unfortunately limited the working capacity of the visa sectors," it said. "Some visa sectors even had to be closed for longer, including embassies in Tehran, Kiev, Cairo, Islamabad, and Manila."
The opposition Left Party has criticized the German government's approach to issuing visa schedules for family reunification. The waiting time is "unbearably long, in some places simply unacceptable," says left-wing MP Gökay Akbulut. "Before the pandemic, the waiting time was several months." "There is a legal limit of three weeks in providing hours for qualified forces, the closest family members often have to wait half a year or a year just to apply for the family reunification application", said Akbulut.
