Now we are in the immigration processing center getting ready to be registered and then divided into groups. Each group will take the train heading to a German province… My destiny took me to Hamburg in the North West. I arrived at noon at the central station, where I met an old friend who suggested that I head to Severin, where they are efficient in processing immigrants and you can get the residency in just a few weeks. This was really important to me as my family is waiting for me in Jordan and I wanted them to join me as soon as possible through a family reunification program or humanitarian asylum.
I arrived at Severin at night, but to my bad luck they have taken enough refuges and thus gave me papers to go Berlin. I heard all along about their slow immigration process, but I had no choice. I arrived the next day at night in Berlin train station with the address they gave in Severin for an immigration-processing camp. After asking for directions from people on the streets, one of them took me to the camp, where I was received. In the morning, they moved us to a covered basketball court and immediately got busy with another immigrant assembling our wooden bunk bed.
Two weeks later, I started the immigration process at the federal immigration department. I completed the first interview and they gave me only a three-month residency. It is well known that during these three months, a Syrian refugee can get a humanitarian asylum and can start the family reunification process for his wife and children only.
At this stage, I was charged with emotions being away from my wife and children. I kept calling my family through social network apps with the hope of reuniting with them within 8 months, however I was not sure what the future would bring me. At the start of 2016, the German Government issued a decree to protect Syrian refugees and to postpone family reunification until 2018. Previously only a few managed to get this protection and now the majority can get it.
I was hopeful to get the humanitarian asylum that would allow me to bring my family and get permanent residency. In order to do that, you have to go through a second interview, which the Federal Government sets for you within three months. In June 2016, after residing for 7 months, I received a notification from the Federal Government. I went for the interview and then kept waiting for the residency decision. I was optimistic, but after a month this optimism started to fade away. My friends got their residencies despite the fact that I had my interview before them. I did not know that the immigration department was picking cases randomly and not based on their date.
Five months after the interview, my morale got so low that I started losing hope of reuniting with my wife and kids [since I was not allowed to return to Jordan]. My little girl does not know about my existence, except through the phone as she was a toddler when I immigrated. In November 2016, and after a long wait, I finally received a humanitarian protection order, but the family reunification was postponed until March 16, 2018. Only after that date, I can start the reunification process.
This news devastated us and my family was in tears when they heard it. My wife started cursing when she heard this news and then fainted. My biggest anger was the duration that I had to spend to get my residency without being able even to go back and see my family in Jordan. After I got the residency, I appointed an immigration lawyer to submit an appeal to the Federal Immigration Court. Now we are in May 2017 and I am still waiting.
I am Oudai El Houmsi, a Syrian refugee living in Germany. I now speak German after studying the language [and receiving a certificate in German proficiency] at a school here. I do not have any ID or a German passport; I cannot leave Germany or even Berlin. I miss my family tremendously and do not have full confidence that the Germany Government will fulfill its promise for a family reunification in 2018. Nonetheless, I thank the German Government for all they have provided us; however forbidding you from seeing your family is indescribable. I wish to live with my family under one roof even if it is a tent.I thank everybody who supported me and my family.
I thank everyone who is reading this story, which is happening for a whole nation that was forced to leave its home land. Wishing to reunite.
End!
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)