The number of people requiring assistance from the immigration authorities has risen continuously. While there were around 16,000 people with temporary residence permits from countries outside the EU during the refugee migration in 2016, this figure will rise to almost 33,000 people in 2024. The majority of these are people who come to Bonn via so-called managed migration, i.e. with a visa or without a visa, for a specific purpose such as employment, training or studies or as part of family reunification.
Complex regulations and a shortage of skilled workers
Despite advancing digitalization, processes have not become shorter at the same time due to legal requirements. In addition, immigration law regulations generally become more complex each time legislation is updated. In addition to national law, EU member state law and more far-reaching international law must also be taken into account.
All of this has led to a chronic overload at the immigration authorities. Applications and requests for advice can only be processed with a delay, which in turn leads to many status inquiries and complaints. Staff absences due to illness, vacation-related absences and temporary vacancies due to staff departures can hardly be compensated for by the employees present, as they are already more than occupied with their own tasks. At the same time, the lack of specialist staff and high fluctuation on the labor market are the reasons why vacancies cannot be filled quickly or sustainably with administrative staff or suitable career changers who require qualifications.
Concept and immediate measures
Against this backdrop, the city administration would like to create and implement a comprehensive concept that will enable the Foreigners' Registration Office to position itself permanently in such a way that it can meet the challenges with the clear objectives of customer orientation and employee retention. A transformation process with external specialist support will determine how these goals can be achieved.
To ensure that the situation described above does not deteriorate further, the city administration is proposing various immediate measures to politicians for implementation. For example, a permanent advertisement for vacancies is to be published and appointments for job interviews are to be regularly scheduled at short intervals in order to fill vacancies more quickly. The induction and post-qualification of new employees is to be professionalized and a new "Training & Studies Team" is to be set up as a central point of contact for international students and future specialists.
In order to implement these immediate improvements and to be able to make major organizational changes with experienced specialist staff, a number of personnel measures are to be implemented this year.
Draft resolution published
The detailed draft resolution "Current situation, stabilization and transformation of the Foreigners' Registration Office" is published here (opens in a new tab).