International students who fled Ukraine told to leave

Many of the international students who have fled Ukraine since February are having their applications for German residence permits rejected and are being asked to leave Germany as soon as possible.

According to the German Rectors’ Conference (or Hochschulrektorenkonferenz) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), around 3,000 international students have sought refuge in Germany.

The international students were initially granted a three-month period of stay which, due to the protraction of the conflict, has been extended up to 31 August. However, unlike the refugee students who are Ukrainian nationals and can complete their studies in Germany, the non-Ukrainian refugee students are required to apply for a residence permit to stay on beyond the August deadline.

According to Johannes Glembek, member of the federal board of the Federal Association of Foreign Students (Bundesverband ausländischer Studierender or BAS), which assists international students, a large number of the international students have had their applications rejected.

While most of them hold what German authorities refer to as a fictional certificate, which acts as proof of an application for a regular residence permit, Glembek states that pressure has been put on many of them to either leave Germany or submit an application for asylum, which he maintains would have little prospect of being successful.

Now, a group of higher education and refugee support organisations, among them the BAS, have reiterated an appeal calling on Germany’s minister of the interior and minister of education and research to do more to support international students who have fled Ukraine.

The seven signatories of the appeal, including World University Service and the Bundesweite Arbeitsgemeinschaft PRO ASYL, which is the federal association for the support of asylum seekers, call on Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser to “grant international students who have had to flee from Ukraine a comparable status to that of refugee Ukrainian nationals”.

“Ensure them the legal framework of residency they need to continue their studies in peace and safety in Germany,” the appeal says.

Addressing Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder or German states, the appeal demands that “existing university, student welfare and scholarship organisation services be opened to international students fleeing from Ukraine and new services be created for them”. Support should also be provided for self-organisation initiatives of these students.

Minister Faeser had previously spoken in favour of providing a safe haven in Germany for Ukrainian refugees without Ukrainian citizenship on the basis of the European Union directive on temporary right of abode early in March.

“We want to save lives,” she had said at the time. “This does not depend on an individual’s passport.”

The appeal points out that students who are unable to continue their studies in their country of origin for financial or other reasons are in a particularly tough situation.

“The war in Ukraine has messed up their life planning, and a forced return without proof of their study achievements so far would completely ruin them,” the appeal states.

It argues that international students in Kiev, Lviv or Sumy are threatened by the same bombs as Ukrainians are, and stresses that the requirement of equal treatment justifies their claim to a right to a safe haven and prospects for continuing their studies in Germany.

Furthermore, the appeal welcomes efforts by individual German states such as Hamburg and Bremen, which are pressing for uniform regulations for the refugees at federal level. Such regulations, the appeal states, would meet both the interests of the refugee students and Germany’s economic interests, given the country’s acute demand for qualified staff and also for international students in general.

The appeal also stresses solidarity with non-Ukrainians who worked and lived in Ukraine and had to flee the war, noting that these people need support from Germany as well.

To contact Michael Gardner, e-mail michael.gardner@uw-news.com