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Syrians are asking the German government to be able to visit their homeland without losing their protection

Syrians in Germany have called on the government to allow them to make more frequent short visits to their country without risking their protection status. They are asking this more than a month after the rebels in Damascus overthrew the 54-year rule of the Assad family. Dozens of countries have suspended the processing of applications for residence status after the events in Syria.

“People are afraid to return to Syria, they are afraid of losing their status as refugees or asylum seekers,” Anwar al-Bunni, head of the non-profit Syrian Center based in Berlin, told The Guardian. Bunni is also one of the representatives of the Syrian community who asked the government for an exception. “Everyone wants to go there to see,” he said. He added that some of them might want to return to their previous life in Syria.

It is a common practice for migrants to withdraw their status if they return to the country from which they fled. “We have strongly warned against hasty decisions, it is extremely new and Syria may not be safe yet,” the director of the European Council for Refugees, Catherine Woollardová, told the newspaper. He supports the temporary return of Syrians to the country and believes that it will also contribute to long-term returns.

The dilemma of almost a million Syrians in Germany came at a time when the country is preparing for parliamentary elections on February 23. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that the government is in favor of allowing temporary return. Members of the German opposition and the extreme right, in turn, propose that the government arrange charter flights to Syria and offer 1,000 euros (roughly 25,000 crowns) to anyone who wants to return there.

This idea was opposed by many employers and trade unions, who point to the essential role of Syrians in alleviating the labor shortage in the country. Approximately 80,000 Syrians work in sectors facing a labor shortage, the newspaper reported, citing the German Economic Institute. There are up to 5,000 fully employed Syrian doctors in Germany.

After the easing of sanctions against Syria, he is calling in addition to Germany and France. The US has already done it

Near and Middle East