The federal government plans to facilitate the granting of three-month visas for Syrian and Turkish earthquake victims with family in Germany, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Saturday.
“This is emergency aid. We want to allow Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring their close relatives from the disaster area to their home, without bureaucracy.”explained the German minister to the daily Bild.
The inhabitants of the areas affected by the earthquake will thus be able to have “regular visas, issued quickly and valid for three months”noted the Minister regarding this joint initiative of the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs.
This procedure might thus allow victims to “find shelter and receive medical treatment” in Germany.
Around 2.9 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, of whom more than half (1.5 million) have Turkish nationality.
The Syrian community is also very important, especially since the opening of the borders in 2015 and 2016 decided by ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel. (With MAP)
