Today, the Federal Cabinet adopted a bill to further digitalise administrative processes in the context of migration which was submitted by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. The bill aims to reduce the burden on public authorities and to speed up administrative processes through improved data sharing. The bill is to be introduced from the floor of the German Bundestag.

Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser said: “Today, we have launched another bill to effectively manage and control migration. To achieve this, we need swift and digital procedures. This is why we are improving data sharing between public authorities, for example with regard to establishing the identity of asylum applicants. Our bill serves not only to make administrative processes more effective, but also to reduce bureaucracy.”

In future, biometric data taken during the application process for an electronic residence permit will be stored for up to ten years. If the residence permit is due for an extension, this data can be used so that there is no need for the applicant to make another appointment at the foreigners authority. The bill also creates the legal basis for storing in the Central Register of Foreigners not only foreign identity documents but also other official and non-official documents that are suitable for identifying the person concerned. This will ease the burden on all authorities which have access to the data stored in the Central Register of Foreigners.

Furthermore, the documents that are relevant for issuing visas will in future be centrally stored in the visa database of the Central Register of Foreigners, making it easier for all authorities involved in the visa procedure to access these documents. This measure aims to reduce the workload of the foreigners authorities in issuing residence permits.

Furthermore, the bill will improve information sharing between the agencies that are responsible for criminal proceedings and proceedings for imposing administrative fines and the foreigners authorities. In future, information concerning criminal or administrative fine proceedings will be transmitted in digital form only. Finally, the bill also stipulates that in cases where benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act have been reduced or denied , the relevant reasons and the period for which such benefits have been reduced or denied will be recorded in the Central Register of Foreigners. This will improve data sharing between the benefit-paying authorities and the foreigners authorities.