German Refugee Digitisation System

The Refugee Digitisation System was implemented in February 2016. All relevant authorities now have access to a single core data system which is administered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

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Information of an individual only needs to be provided once at first contact and can then be shared and re-used by the involved public administrations and other relevant entities.

Summary 

In 2015, approx. 1,1 million of refugees arrived in Germany. This mass migration provided public administrations in Germany with many challenges, starting with the registration and processing of incoming refugees. There were numerous agencies providing services for refugees and registering incoming people, using different IT systems. Refugees were sometimes registered multiple times due to misunderstandings or deliberate disguise. Translation errors or different alphabetical systems led to incorrect data entries due to spelling mistakes. 

Therefore, the registration procedure for refugees was digitally standardized in order to avoid previous mistakes and to establish a data system all relevant authorities would have access to. The Data Sharing Improvement Law (Jan 2016) provided the legal basis for the exchange of data among the relevant authorities. The system behind the data exchange builds on the already established data standard XAusländer. All relevant authorities have access to a single core data system which is administered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The data is provided by the refugee at first contact with a state authority. The responsible authority then updates the core data system. Therefore, the data only has to be provided once by the refugee. Through the core data system, the data can then be reviewed and re-used by all responsible authorities for their respective purposes. 

To improve data quality, fingerprints are now used as a legal identifier instead of a name. Furthermore, the registration of a refugee is a prerequisite for all public services, e.g. accommodation, food, health services. 

ENABLING ASSETS OR COMPONENTS

Relevant Enablers
German XAusländer
Legal interoperability
Data Sharing Improvement Law, https://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&start=//*%5B@attr_id=%27bgbl116s0130.pdf%27%5D#__bgbl__%2F%2F*%5B%40attr_id%3D%27bgbl116s0130.pdf%27%5D__1507912797340

Following information was added: The following data will be collected and shared with relevant agencies: name, AKN-number, fingerprint, civil status, information on the asylum status, German address, contact info (voluntary), accompanied minors, responsible state and agencies, educational background, language skills, data on integration courses, data on health checks, data on immunizations
Socio-cultural influence factors
Instead of the legal name, a fingerprint is used as a unique identifier. The registration is the prerequisite of all public services used by the refugee, e.g. accommodation, food, health services. Refugees receive a paper-based identity document that they have to show to receive the different means.

Data handling / data exchange

Type of data sharing
Actual data

Source: https://scoop4c.eu/cases/german-refugee-digitisation-system

Disclaimer: Please note that this article is a result of the SCOOP4C Pilot Project, not an application of a CEF Building Block.

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