Foreign nationals hold decision-making roles in German immigration offices

Research found that German immigration agencies regularly employ staff who are not German citizens, and some of these employees lack permanent residence status while still exercising authority over residency and naturalisation decisions. The Hamburg migration office employs 423 people, including 13 EU nationals and 24 third-country nationals, 14 of whom have only temporary permits and face no restrictions on their adjudicative powers.

Other municipalities report comparable figures: Essen has ten EU and nine third-country staff; Dortmund employs five EU and seven third-country workers; Frankfurt lists five third-country decision-makers among 126 officials. Responses from Berlin, Munich and other cities were partial or refused, often citing privacy concerns, but indicated that non-German staff can constitute a significant portion of the workforce. Authorities consistently argue that professional qualifications, not nationality or residence status, determine hiring and that no legal or internal rules limit the powers of foreign employees.