Germany Welcomes First Group of Afghans Through Admission Program

The first group of Afghans entered Germany through the admission program.

The German Foreign Ministry announced that a group of at-risk Afghans has entered Germany through the federal admission program. This program started last year, and no one had been transferred to Germany through it until now.
For the first time, a group of at-risk Afghans entered the country through Germany’s new federal admission program. The German Foreign Ministry announced this on Thursday in Berlin and has not provided further details. An LGBTQ+ association stated that the first group of members from this community safely arrived in Germany this week.

The German federal admission program, which was launched specifically for Afghans at risk in October 2022, initially did not make much progress. The program was suspended to some extent due to security reasons in March of this year, and by that time, no one had been transferred to Germany through this program.

By the end of June 2023, travel facilities for Afghans with acceptance promises to Germany were made available again. However, it was decided that the visa issuance process would undergo rigorous security checks.

Now, the German Foreign Ministry has said that by 21st September of this year, positive decisions have been made for 571 individuals, and they are eligible for visa issuance.
The German federal admission program protects those Afghans who, due to their activities in the fields of human rights defense, judicial institutions, politics, and media, face serious threats from the Taliban. This program is set to continue until September 2025.

In addition to the German federal admission program, there is another program to protect former local employees of German offices. This includes those who collaborated with the German military and other German agencies before the Taliban took power.
Furthermore, there’s another program focused on very serious cases. All in all, in the past two years, about 30,300 Afghans have been transferred from Afghanistan to Germany through these programs. In total, 44,000 people have received acceptance promises.