Tens of thousands of people have also come to Baden-Württemberg to flee the bloody war in Ukraine. This poses a major challenge for the state’s reception centers.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - According to the Ministry of Migration, the capacity limit has been reached in the state's initial reception centers. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Migration in Stuttgart said that initial reception is currently full of refugees from Ukraine and asylum seekers, despite almost doubling capacity and further expansion.
"In the current situation, additional refugee accommodation and short-term emergency accommodation must be created again," said the spokesman. Since the start of the Ukraine war in February of this year, around 116,500 people have come to Baden-Württemberg from Ukraine. In addition, the country has already taken in around 15,000 more asylum seekers this year.
In the week ending August 21, there were around 370 arrivals per day in the first receptions, around 230 of them refugees from Ukraine. In the week up to July 10, there were still 113 entries per day. That corresponds to an increase of more than 100 percent, the ministry said. In the first half of 2022 alone, the number of asylum seekers was the highest in a half year since 2016.
The ministry estimates that around 80 percent of Ukrainians in Baden-Württemberg are housed privately. Unlike other asylum seekers, refugees from Ukraine could be accommodated directly with the urban and rural districts.
With the EU directive on the so-called mass influx, Ukrainians receive legal residence status without a lengthy individual assessment. Those seeking protection do not have to apply for asylum, but can stay and work for a year.
