Andrea and Tino Wohlmacher ought to be celebrating. But the managers of a home for 48 dementia patients in Wilstedt, near Bremen, simply have too much to do before Christmas. They've just scored their first small victory against Germany's labyrinthine bureaucratic system of asylum applications, skilled worker immigration and deportations.

The 10 caregivers from Colombia that they employ have been granted permission to stay for the time being. Two- or three-year training contracts will allow them to stay and will prevent them from being repatriated. "We all breathed a huge sigh of relief," Andrea Wohlmacher told DW. 

The story of the 10 Colombians illustrates the difficulties Germany faces in attracting and retaining urgently needed workers while maintaining a clear distinction between asylum and labor migration at the same time. This is because the untrained workers from South America submitted applications for asylum — and they were rejected.

For this reason, they were not permitted to change their applicant status to that of skilled workers. This meant that the Colombians were in danger of being forced to leave Germany, and as a result, the care facility would likely be forced to close due to a lack of staff.

"We are, I think, a perfect example of why migration is necessary. And not just for skilled workers. In Germany, we've had a shortage of workers for decades, especially in the care sector," said Andrea Wohlmacher.

According to the German Council for Nursing (DPR), there is already a shortage of around 115,000 professional nursing staff in full-time positions. The labor market is in dire straits and many hospitals, care services, and retirement homes can only survive with staff from abroad.

Case sparked outrage in Germany

When their 10 employees were threatened with deportation, the two directors in Wilstedt pulled out all the stops and made their case public. They wrote an open letter to eight politicians, prompting dozens of television crews to flock to Wilstedt. A petition to the German government received 83,782 signatures and German health minister Karl Lauterbach even accepted the petition in person.

The case sparked outrage throughout Germany: How can it be that people who are well integrated, who pay their taxes, and who are there day and night for people in need of care, are being told to leave the country?

But there is also another aspect to consider: What kind of signal is Germany sending abroad if rejected asylum-seekers can somehow remain in the country even without the appropriate training? The final decision now lies with a commission in the state of Lower Saxony responsible for handling exceptional cases.

When the petition was handed to Lauterbach, he promised to do whatever was in his power, adding: "We wouldn't be able to provide the same standard of care in Germany if we didn't have so many care workers from abroad." He said he wants to send a clear message: "Foreign care workers are more than welcome here because we depend on them and have had very positive experiences with them."

Andrea Wohlmacher firmly believes that without the publicity and talks with politicians at every level, the Colombian caregivers would probably still be facing the threat of deportation. The education permit that has staved off their deportation for the time being will now give the care home and its team a little breathing room. The 10 caregivers are currently being trained as nursing assistants, nurses and cooks.

Reform of the German immigration system needed

That is why the man who is tasked with ensuring that the immigration of skilled workers to Germany takes place in an orderly manner — in other words, not by means of a potentially hopeless asylum application — recently held talks in the Colombian capital Bogota.

For almost two years, Joachim Stamp has been the German government's special advisor for migration agreements.

"We want to reduce unauthorized migration and enable better management of labor migration. I have also made it clear in the Colombian media that the way into the German labor market is not through asylum law, but only through the proper immigration of skilled workers," Stamp told DW.

This is because the latest approval rate for asylum seekers from Colombia was 0.4%, meaning that only one in 250 Colombians had their asylum application approved. At the same time, however, an increasing number of Colombians are trying to immigrate to Germany by making applications for asylum. While the number of applications was 138 in 2018, last year 3,337 people from Colombia applied for asylum in Germany.

There are currently 14,000 Colombians living in Germany who are working and paying social security contributions. In addition, there are 3,500 students and postgraduates, as well as around 500 academics.

Germany aims to promote the regular migration of workers and decrease the number of ineligible asylum applications by establishing comprehensive migration partnerships with countries such as Colombia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Morocco and Kenya. The aim is to prevent cases like the one in the Wilstedt care facility from happening again in the future.

"It is a tragedy when nice and hard-working people are exploited by smugglers and misled into seeking asylum. Many people are clearly being purposefully misinformed by the smuggling networks," said Joachim Stamp. "Colombians who want to come to Germany should find their way into the job market and not into refugee shelters."

This article was originally published in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.