Abstracts by key term: qualitative investigation
In recent weeks and months there has been an increase in public perception and in the media of reports and images of people trying to reach European soil via the Mediterranean. They risk their lives in overcrowded boats hoping for a better life in Europe. In the TV and newspaper reports, capsized boats and drowned people are often reported. If illegal immigrants do reach European territory, they usually end up in overcrowded refugee camps with the hope of escaping to Germany or another European country. The number of asylum seekers in Germany is currently higher than ever before, and new records are being broken every month. For 2015, almost 330,000 initial asylum applications were recorded (as of October 2015), which corresponds to an increase of 1,44% compared to 2014. The numbers appear even more serious compared to previous years: in 2007 there were only 19,000 initial asylum applications in Germany and 41,000 in 2010 (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2015a). The overall protection rate, i.e. all positive decisions according to Art. 16a Paragraph 1 GG, according to Section 3 Paragraph 1 AsylVfG, according to Section 4 Paragraph 1 AsylVfG and according to Section 60 Paragraphs 5 and 7 Residence Act, is 39.1% in 2015 is thus higher than in the previous year (31.5%) (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2015a). The remaining asylum seekers have few options to be able to live permanently in Germany. One possibility: you decide to live illegally under the residency law.