The Federal Cabinet approved on 3 September two draft laws which will transpose the new CEAS into national law.
The draft laws with which the Federal Government is implementing the provisions of the new CEAS include, amongst others, the following:
Border procedure: According to the Asylum Procedure Regulation, in certain cases, a decision on an asylum application can be made in an asylum border procedure when entering via the EU's external border, which in Germany is at airports and seaports. The draft laws also contain provisions for the return border procedure. The return border procedure follows the asylum border procedure if no protection is granted. It must be carried out within 12 weeks and is intended to ensure that persons are returned to their countries of origin without further delay.
Safe third countries: The German government will be able to designate safe third countries and safe countries of origin by means of a statutory order
Access to the labour market for asylum seekers: Access to the labour market must be granted no later than six months after the asylum application has been registered, provided that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees BAMF has not yet decided on the asylum application and this delay cannot be attributed to the applicant.
In addition, the Federal Government is shortening the period for access to the labour market to three months. This does not apply to asylum seekers from safe countries of origin, Dublin cases and persons who are clearly abusing the right to asylum.
The draft law grants the federal states the right to set up secondary migration centres. Asylum seekers, who are already beneficiaries of international protection in another Member State, will be accommodated in those centres until the procedure has been completed and they can be returned directly from the facilities to the responsible Member State. Authorities will have significantly greater powers to impose clear residence and registration requirements in order to ensure the presence of asylum seekers and to significantly increase the number of transfers of Dublin cases and returns.
Extension of the scope of the airport procedure. In the airport procedure, the asylum procedure is carried out before entry, i.e. while still in the transit area.
The draft laws contain simplified options for the removal of sex offenders