Last Updated on June 1, 2021 by LawEuro
Asylum Act (Germany)
Chapter 5
Accommodation and distribution
Section 44
Setting up and maintaining reception centres
(1) The Länder shall be required to set up and maintain reception centres necessary to accommodate persons requesting asylum and to provide the necessary number of places in the reception centres for newly arrived persons requesting asylum per month allocated to them on the basis of their respective admission quotas.
(2) The Federal Ministry of the Interior or the authority designated by it shall inform the Länder each month of the number of newly arrived persons requesting asylum, the prospective trend and the prospective need for accommodation.
(3) Section 45 of Book Eight of the Social Code (Article 1 of the Act dated 26 June 1990, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1163) shall not apply to reception centres. Operators of reception centres should require persons working in these centres to supervise, look after, educate or train minors or carry out other activities where they are likely to come in contact with minors, to submit, prior to their hiring or before taking up longer-term voluntary work, and at regular intervals, police certificates of good conduct pursuant to Section 30 (5) and 30a (1) of the Central Criminal Register Act. Operators of reception centres must not employ persons or volunteers who have incontestably been convicted of a criminal offence pursuant to Sections 171, 174 to 174c, 176 to 180a, 181a, 182 to 184g, 225, 232 to 233a, 234, 235 or 236 of the Criminal Code to carry out the activities referred to in the second sentence. If the operator of a reception centre views the police certificate of good conduct in line with Section 30 (5) and 30a (1) of the Central Criminal Register Act, he shall only record the fact that the certificate has been viewed, its date and whether or not the person concerned was incontestably convicted of one of the criminal offences referred to in the third sentence. The operator of a reception centre may only change or use these data to the extent necessary to verify whether the person is suited to carry out the activities referred to in the second sentence. The data are to be protected against unauthorized access. If, after the certificate has been viewed, the person concerned does not carry out activities referred to in the second sentence, the data are to be deleted without delay. They are to be deleted no later than six months after the person concerned carried out the activities referred to in the second sentence for the last time.
Section 45
Admission quotas
(1) The Länder may agree to define a key for distributing persons requesting asylum among the individual Länder (admission quota). Until such an agreement has been concluded or if such an agreement should cease to exist, the admission quota for the current calendar year shall be based on the key calculated for the previous calendar year in line with tax revenues and population and published in the Federal Gazette by the office of the Joint Education and Research Conference (Königstein key).
(2) Two or more Länder may agree that persons requesting asylum who are to be admitted by a specific Land in line with its admission quota, are admitted by another Land. An agreement pursuant to the first sentence shall at least contain information regarding the size of the group of persons covered by the agreement and an appropriate compensation for costs. Such an agreement shall not affect the admission quota referred to in subsection 1.
Section 46
Determination of the responsible reception centre
(1) The special reception centre (Section 5 (5) which has space available under the terms of the quota referred to in Section 45 and where the branch office of the Federal Office assigned to it processes asylum applications from the foreigner’s country of origin shall be responsible for the reception of foreigners meeting the requirements of Section 30a (1). As for the rest, the reception centre where the foreigner has registered shall be responsible for receiving him, if it has space available under the terms of the quota referred to in Section 45 and if the branch office of the Federal Office assigned to it processes asylum applications from the foreigner’s country of origin. Where the prerequisites of the first and second sentences are not met, the reception centre designated in subsection 2 shall be responsible for receiving the foreigner. If several special reception centres could be responsible for receiving a foreigner pursuant to the first sentence, subsection 2 shall apply accordingly in determining the responsible special reception centre.
(2) Upon request by a reception centre, a central distributing agency designated by the Federal Ministry of the Interior shall indicate which reception centre is responsible for receiving the foreigner. This shall be based on the admission quotas referred to in Section 45, the available vacancies according to these quotas and finally the processing capacities of the competent branch office of the Federal Office with regard to the foreigners’ countries of origin. If more than one reception centre meets the aforementioned criteria, the nearest one shall be designated to be responsible for receiving the foreigner.
(2a) Where responsibility derogates from subsections 1 and 2, following an agreement pursuant to Section 45 (2), first sentence, the reception centre required to receive the foreigner in question pursuant to the agreement shall become responsible upon actually receiving him. As far as circumstances permit, the agreement shall be taken into account when distributing foreigners pursuant to subsection 2.
(3) The requesting reception centre shall inform the central distributing agency only of the number of foreigners and their respective countries of origin. Foreigners and their family members within the meaning of Section 26 (1) to (3) shall be reported as a group.
(4) The Länder shall ensure that the central distributing agency has at all times the information needed to determine which reception centre is responsible, in particular information on how many foreigners have arrived and departed, how full each reception centre is and how many vacancies each reception centre has.
(5) If there are no more vacancies in the reception centres of a Land which is nevertheless required under the quota system to accept foreigners, the government of the Land concerned or an authority designated by it shall inform the central distributing agency which reception centre is responsible for admitting foreigners.
Section 47
Residence in reception centres
(1) Foreigners required to file their asylum application with a branch office of the Federal Office (Section 14 (1)), shall be required to live for a period of up to six weeks, but no longer than six months, in the reception centre responsible for receiving them. The same shall apply in cases pursuant to Section 14 (2), first sentence, no. 2 if the conditions under this provision cease to exist before the Federal Office has taken a decision.
(1a) In derogation from subsection 1, foreigners from a safe country of origin (Section 29a) shall be required to live in the reception centre responsible for receiving them until the Federal Office has decided on their asylum application or, should the application be rejected as manifestly unfounded under Section 29a or as inadmissible under Section 29 (1) no. 1, until they have left the federal territory or until the deportation warning or deportation order is enforced. Sections 48 to 50 shall remain unaffected.
(2) If the parents of a minor, unmarried child are required to live in a reception centre, the child may also live in the reception centre, even if he has not filed an asylum application.
(3) During the period of obligatory residence in a reception centre, the foreigner shall be required to ensure that the competent authorities and courts can contact him.
(4) Within 15 days of the filing of an asylum application, the reception centre shall inform the foreigner, if possible in writing and in a language which he can reasonably be assumed to understand, of his rights and obligations under the Act on Benefits for Asylum Applicants. With the information referred to in the first sentence, the reception centre shall also inform the foreigner about who is able to provide legal counsel and which organizations can advise him on accommodations and medical care.
Section 48
Termination of the obligation to reside in a reception centre
The obligation to live in a reception centre shall end before six months have elapsed if the foreigner
1. is required to take up residence in another place or in other accommodation;
2. has been granted asylum status or international protection within the meaning of Section 1 (1) no. 2, or
3. if he meets the requirements for a legal claim to a residence title under the Residence Act after having filed an application by marrying or by establishing a civil partnership in the federal territory.
Section 49
Release from the reception centre
(1) The obligation to reside at a reception centre shall be terminated if a deportation warning is enforceable and it is impossible to enforce deportation at short notice; or if the foreigner is to be issued a temporary residence permit pursuant to Section 24 of the Residence Act.
(2) The obligation may be terminated for reasons of public health, for other reasons of public security and order, or for other compelling reasons.
Section 50
Distribution within a Land
(1) Foreigners shall be immediately released from the reception centre and distributed within the Land concerned if the Federal Office informs the responsible Land authority that
1. it is impossible to decide or to decide at short notice whether the asylum application is inadmissible or manifestly unfounded or whether the prerequisites listed in Section 60 (5) or (7) of the Residence Act are fulfilled by the foreigner or one of his family members within the meaning of Section 26 (1) to (3); or that
2. the administrative court has ruled that the action brought against the decision of the Federal Office shall have suspensive effect.
Distribution may also be carried out if the foreigner’s obligation to live in the reception centre ceases for other reasons.
(2) The Land government or the authority designated by it shall be authorized to regulate distribution by means of a statutory instrument if this is not regulated by Land law.
(3) The responsible Land authority shall inform the Federal Office within three working days of the district of the foreigners authority where the foreigner is to take up residence after the distribution procedure.
(4) The responsible Land authority shall issue the allocation decision. The allocation decision shall be issued in writing and shall include information on legal remedy. A justification shall not be required. A hearing of the foreigner concerned shall not be required. The allocation decision shall take into account the domestic community of family members within the meaning of Section 26 (1) to (3) or other equally important humanitarian reasons.
(5) The allocation decision shall be delivered to the foreigner himself. If the foreigner is represented by an authorized representative or if he has designated an authorized receiving agent, the authorized representative or the authorized receiving agent shall also receive a copy of the allocation decision.
(6) The foreigner shall proceed without delay to the place designated in the allocation decision.
Section 51
Distribution among the Länder
(1) If a foreigner is not or no longer required to live in a reception centre, the domestic community of family members within the meaning of Section 26 (1) to (3) or other equally important humanitarian reasons shall be taken into account also by means of allocation among the Länder.
(2) Allocation pursuant to subsection 1 shall be effected at the foreigner’s request. The responsible authority of the Land where the foreigner has requested residence shall decide on the request.
Section 52
Calculation of quotas
Persons requesting asylum admitted pursuant to Section 14 (2), first sentence, nos. 2 and 3, Section 14a and Section 51 shall be counted in the quotas pursuant to Section 45 above.
Section 53
Collective accommodation
(1) Foreigners who have filed an asylum application and are not or no longer required to live in a reception centre, should, as a rule, be housed in collective accommodation. In this context, both the public interest and the foreigner’s interests shall be taken into account.
(2) The foreigner’s obligation to live in collective accommodation shall end when the Federal Office has recognized him as a person granted asylum or when a court has required the Federal Office to recognize him, even if an appeal has been made, as long as the foreigner is able to prove that he has found accommodation elsewhere and that this will not result in additional costs for a public authority. The same shall apply in cases where the Federal Office or a court have granted a foreigner international protection as defined in Section 1 (1) no. 2. In the cases covered by the first and second sentences, this obligation shall also end for family members within the meaning of Section 26 (1) to (3).
(3) Section 44 (3) shall apply accordingly.
Section 54
Notification of the Federal Office
The foreigners authority in whose district the foreigner is required to stay or to take up residence shall immediately inform the Federal Office
1. of the address under which summons may be served on the foreigner,
2. of any alert to determine the foreigner’s place of residence.
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