Around 390,000 migrants may be able to bring their families to Germany next spring, and the number is expected to rise, government figures reveal.
The Geneva Convention gives people with full asylum status the right to bring immediate family members to their new country of residence. Since 2015, more than 230,000 migrants in Germany have had their family reunification applications accepted and the number is expected to rise.
Tabloid Bild reported Tuesday that the government anticipates that as many as 390,000 people may be eligible for family reunification by the end of 2018. Around 267,000 of them come from Syria.
Alexander Gauland, a senior member of the populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD), recently called it “absolute madness” to allow family reunification for migrants.
“Billions and billions of tax money are being swallowed and the social state is being steered toward breakdown while our eyes are wide open,” Gauland said in April, according to Reuters.
Chancellor Angela Merkel — who is expected to be re-elected for a fourth term in September — recently said she will make decisions on what to do with the family reunification standards after the general election.
A Bild poll released Tuesday states that 58 percent of Germans believe family reunification should be scrapped.
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