Date: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Meseret Beyene in her uniform. Her world is currently falling apart. PHOTO: PRIVATE"I'm not feeling well, everything in my head is broken. I cry all day, I'm restless," says Meseret Beyene. The 37-year-old is desperate. She has Ethiopian citizenship and has been in Germany since 2017. But she has to leave Germany by Friday, July 19, at the request of the immigration authorities in the Rostock district.
Meseret Beyene is training to be a geriatric nursing assistant in Güstrow. This training was supposed to last until February 2025, but it seems to have come to an early end. And this despite the fact that she had a clear path ahead of her.
She completed internships and even got a training position. But Meseret Beyene's career was often rocky. The immigration authorities refused to grant her a work permit, thus ending her employment.
For example, in the elderly care sector at a job in Ludwigslust. She worked there for over a year and always received positive feedback. She was actually looking forward to completing her training, because then she would have had a secure position as an elderly care assistant in Ludwigslust.
She is currently undergoing training at the BilSE Institute in Güstrow. The head of the Department of Internal Affairs and Public Order in the Rostock district, Stephan Meyer , says: "The employment/training she is obviously doing is taking place without the necessary permission from the immigration authorities."
According to Meyer, this has no longer been the case since New Year's Day 2022. "Good integration also includes adhering to the legal system applicable in Germany and not pretending to have a false identity for years," he explains.
A false identity? Meseret Beyene explains her family situation: "I used to say I was from Eritrea because my father was Eritrean. My father died a long time ago, 29 years ago. My mother is in Ethiopia." In addition, she explains, her father had a second wife in Eritrea. She is also no longer alive.
But she had been in contact with his son when she was already in Germany and in contact with the authorities. "I spoke to the son. He was supposed to help me get the Eritrean passport." Because without this passport, the immigration authorities told her, nothing would be possible. The deceased woman's son sent her a passport shortly afterwards.
Meseret Beyene presented the document to the authorities. Then came the surprise: the document was supposedly fake. "I then said: I didn't do it." Beyene wanted to speak to the person who obtained the passport, but was unable to make contact. "He didn't tell me that it was fake either."
According to the immigration authorities of the Rostock district, Meseret Beyene has been 'enforceably obliged to leave the country' since January 28, 2020. An asylum application was rejected and the subsequent legal proceedings were unsuccessful. "The obligation to leave the country could not be enforced due to identity deception and missing travel documents," says Stephan Meyer.
As the immigration authorities of the Rostock district confirmed, an official document is now available: Meseret Beyene's Ethiopian passport. She was able to get it through her biological mother. But the departure date is fixed.
The integration officer was also informed and examined the case. The answer: "Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to help her at this point." She has an appointment at the administrative court at the beginning of next week and with a lawyer on the Thursday before the set departure date. Beyene is fighting because she wants to stay here.
Meseret Beyene is trying to stop her departure and get a residence permit through her lawyer. Her lawyer wants to obtain an interim order from the court to prohibit "measures to terminate the applicant's stay". He believes that the conditions have been met for Meseret Beyene to be "granted a residence permit". He has submitted a new application for toleration to the district.
Her fate is not an isolated case, says Beyene. "There are many foreigners like me. They have the same problems. They get short stays for a year. In Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg. I worked here for three years and did an internship for two years."
Last week, she went public with her case at the citizen dialogue in Ludwigslust and explained her situation to the chairman of the association for future-proof care, Maik Wolff .
He said in a press release: "We are appalled by the request that Ms. Meseret Beyene should leave the Federal Republic of Germany - the Schengen area. We cannot afford such a 'together' situation. Nursing needs people like Meseret and we say it loud and clear: Meseret - we stand by your side in solidarity."
"I'm not feeling well, everything in my head is broken. I cry all day, I'm restless," says Meseret Beyene. The 37-year-old is desperate. She has Ethiopian citizenship and has been in Germany since 2017. But she has to leave Germany by Friday, July 19, at the request of the immigration authorities in the Rostock district.
Meseret Beyene is training to be a geriatric nursing assistant in Güstrow. This training was supposed to last until February 2025, but it seems to have come to an early end. And this despite the fact that she had a clear path ahead of her.
She completed internships and even got a training position. But Meseret Beyene's career was often rocky. The immigration authorities refused to grant her a work permit, thus ending her employment.
For example, in the elderly care sector at a job in Ludwigslust. She worked there for over a year and always received positive feedback. She was actually looking forward to completing her training, because then she would have had a secure position as an elderly care assistant in Ludwigslust.
She is currently undergoing training at the BilSE Institute in Güstrow. The head of the Department of Internal Affairs and Public Order in the Rostock district, Stephan Meyer , says: "The employment/training she is obviously doing is taking place without the necessary permission from the immigration authorities."
According to Meyer, this has no longer been the case since New Year's Day 2022. "Good integration also includes adhering to the legal system applicable in Germany and not pretending to have a false identity for years," he explains.
A false identity? Meseret Beyene explains her family situation: "I used to say I was from Eritrea because my father was Eritrean. My father died a long time ago, 29 years ago. My mother is in Ethiopia." In addition, she explains, her father had a second wife in Eritrea. She is also no longer alive.
But she had been in contact with his son when she was already in Germany and in contact with the authorities. "I spoke to the son. He was supposed to help me get the Eritrean passport." Because without this passport, the immigration authorities told her, nothing would be possible. The deceased woman's son sent her a passport shortly afterwards.
Meseret Beyene presented the document to the authorities. Then came the surprise: the document was supposedly fake. "I then said: I didn't do it." Beyene wanted to speak to the person who obtained the passport, but was unable to make contact. "He didn't tell me that it was fake either."
According to the immigration authorities of the Rostock district, Meseret Beyene has been 'enforceably obliged to leave the country' since January 28, 2020. An asylum application was rejected and the subsequent legal proceedings were unsuccessful. "The obligation to leave the country could not be enforced due to identity deception and missing travel documents," says Stephan Meyer.
As the immigration authorities of the Rostock district confirmed, an official document is now available: Meseret Beyene's Ethiopian passport. She was able to get it through her biological mother. But the departure date is fixed.
The integration officer was also informed and examined the case. The answer: "Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to help her at this point." She has an appointment at the administrative court at the beginning of next week and with a lawyer on the Thursday before the set departure date. Beyene is fighting because she wants to stay here.
Meseret Beyene is trying to stop her departure and get a residence permit through her lawyer. Her lawyer wants to obtain an interim order from the court to prohibit "measures to terminate the applicant's stay". He believes that the conditions have been met for Meseret Beyene to be "granted a residence permit". He has submitted a new application for toleration to the district.
Her fate is not an isolated case, says Beyene. "There are many foreigners like me. They have the same problems. They get short stays for a year. In Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg. I worked here for three years and did an internship for two years."
Last week, she went public with her case at the citizen dialogue in Ludwigslust and explained her situation to the chairman of the association for future-proof care, Maik Wolff .
He said in a press release: "We are appalled by the request that Ms. Meseret Beyene should leave the Federal Republic of Germany - the Schengen area. We cannot afford such a 'together' situation. Nursing needs people like Meseret and we say it loud and clear: Meseret - we stand by your side in solidarity."
