Bamf has procured 7,557 passport replacement documents within the last five years

Nuremberg – The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has procured passport replacement documents for foreign nationals to leave the country in a total of 7,557 cases over the past five years. The agency stated this in response to an inquiry from the "Tagesspiegel" (Friday edition). According to the agency, the procurement was unsuccessful or unsuccessful in approximately half of the cases between 2020 and 2024 for various reasons. Within the framework of administrative assistance, BAMF procures replacement documents for specific countries of origin and for three federal states in their entirety at the request of the states. In this context, the authority is organizing collective hearings with experts from the relevant countries to identify the respective nationals. Between 2020 and 2024, 511 documents were obtained on this basis in 2020, 1,491 in 2021, 1,422 in 2022, 1,833 in 2023, and 2,200 in 2024. The documents were made available to the federal states, which are responsible for further implementation. However, this was not productive in more than half of the cases – either because the person did not leave the country, because this remained unclear, or because the applicant's own documents were ultimately submitted. The BAMF told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that the authority was not responsible for the outcome. Specifically, this was the case for a total of 57 percent of the requests for administrative assistance submitted between 2020 and 2024. 28 percent failed because a residence permit had been granted in the meantime or a deportation ban had been issued by the responsible federal state. In 21 percent of cases, the whereabouts of the foreign nationals in question had been unknown for more than two years. And in 12 percent of cases, the affected individuals finally presented travel documents.