In asylum procedures, an increasing proportion of refugees present falsified identification documents. As Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said, around 4.5 percent of documents submitted were criticized from January to end of September 2017: Good 10,400 of around 233,000. Last year share was lower with 2.6 percent, but absolute number was higher due to overall higher number of procedures: just under 12,800 of more than 491,000 audited papers were n classified as falsified or distorted. In addition to passports, birth certificates, driving licences or certificates are also considered as identity documents.
Accordingly, anor 5,370 papers could not be conclusively evaluated this year because y were in bad condition, for example, or bamf had no reference material. The bamf maintains a central and three regional testing centres for control of identity documents. It is often trivialities – a missing stamp, a different font or printing technique – that distinguishes real from forged passports.
Counterfeit identity papers are repeatedly problematized in connection with threat of terrorism. In October, media reported that Anis Amri, assassin of attack on Berliner Breitscheidplatz, had more than a dozen fake identities.
Every counterfeit of police has been reported since October 2016. Counterfeit documents usually have penalties in lower three-digit euro area. The bamf also checks wher documents are security relevant and, if necessary, turns on federal office. In year 2015, federal Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) claimed that 30 percent of Syrian asylum seekers travelled with false passports. However, a government response to a parliamentary request from left showed that only eight percent of Syrian personnel documents were criticized in a random investigation.
Many asylum seekers, however, travel without papers: At least 60 percent, as bamf in March estimated. The fact that refugees do not have a passport, however, "cannot be interpreted as a lump-sum as an indication of intent to deceive or misuse of asylum procedure," said a spokesman for Federal Ministry. It always comes down to circumstances of particular case.
Date Of Update: 22 December 2017, 12:02
