Germany

Steps for counselling and organising return in Germany

	AVRR Counsellor	Migration office / state department	Training organisation	Comment
Actors in return field in Germany	NGOs like Caritas, Diakonie, Red Cross etc, IOM at reception centers, employees of (central) foreigners’ offices	Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)	Social impact, small projects by NGOs
First time counselling / perspective counselling	X
Assisting with organizing travel documents	X
Preparing the return of vulnerable clients	X
Registering clients for professional training in EU country	X
Offering professional training in EU country			X (not available in all federal states)
Applying for return budget	X
Granting return budget		X		The BAMF took over the role of IOM Germany in January 2024 and is granting and organising the return flights.
Applying for plane ticket	X
Booking the plane / bus ticket		X
Applying for reintegration budget	X
Preparing a business plan ( in case of business start-up)	X		X
Granting reintegration budget		X (The EURP Unit)
Final counselling	X
Organizing medical escort				Currently there is no solution to assist vulnerable migrants since the BAMF is still working on a contract with IOM Germany regarding this topic. The BAMF itself will not organise the assistance for vulnerable migrants.
Disbursing return budget in EU country / giving cash assistance just before the departure	X	X		The travel cash assistance (200€ per adult) is paid out by the counselling centre. The start-up assistance is handed out by a sub-contractor of the BAMF at four airports in Germany.
Escort to airport	NA			Exception: The cost of transportation by taxi to the airport is given in exceptional vulnerable cases.
Connecting returnee with reintegration partner		X		The BAMF is giving the contact details of the returnees to the reintegration partners, but the returnees are in charge of getting in touch with the reintegration partners after returning.
Staying in touch with returnee	X

Return budget

Flight or bus ticket: travel costs from the place of residence to the airport or (bus) station;
Money for the journey: 200 EUR per person* (100 EUR per person under 18 years of age);
Early return incentive: 500€ per Person who returns during the asylum procedure
Start-up money: 1,000 EUR per person (500 EUR per person under 18 years of age, maximum of EUR 4,000 per family)
Start-up money + after 6 – 8 months in the country of return: depending on the nationality either 800€ per family or 400€ per person
Medical support: maximum of 2,000 EUR for up to three months after arrival in the country of destination

Reintegration budget (EURP)

Short-term assistance (“Post Arrival Package” – up to 14 working days after arrival): EUR 615 per person
Long-term support (“Post Return Package” – up to 12 months after departure): EUR 2,000 for the main applicant and each additional family member EUR 1,000

Return numbers in Germany

	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Number of assisted voluntary returns	13053	5657	6800	7877	10763

https://www.bamf.de/EN/Themen/Statistik/FreiwilligeRueckkehr/freiwilligerueckkehr-node.html

Top 5 countries of return

REAG GARP	2021	2022	2023
1.	Russian Federation (734)	North Macedonia (1398)	Turkey (1616)
2.	Iraq (696)	Iraq (907)	North Macedonia (1549)
3.	Georgia (671)	Albania (807)	Georgia (1522)
4.	North Macedonia (444)	Georgia (683)	Albania (875)
5.	Azerbaijan (359)	Serbia (394)	Iraq (809)