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DIGITALISATION

Digitalisation: The German states offering the most online services

From registering a flat to applying for parental benefits, Germany is aiming to make bureaucracy easier to take care of online. It's lagging behind its goal - but new statistics show some states are making significant progress.

Published: 15 September 2023 11:57 CEST
digitalisation
A person applies for an unemployment benefit online in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jens Kalaene

As part of its push to digitalise bureaucratic services, Germany has a goal of making 575 various services available exclusively online in each state.

The Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz) aimed to hit that mark by the end of 2022 – but all the 16 states are lagging significantly behind, according to new data from the German government’s Digital Dashboard.

The states offering the most services online – be it registering a flat or applying for a state benefit – are Bavaria (with 235 digital services to date), Hesse (212) and Hamburg (215).

Those falling the furthest behind are the northern city-state of Bremen (185), eastern Saxony-Anhalt (139) and the smallest state of Saarland (132).

READ ALSO: Is Germany a ‘failed state’ for public digital services?

In Bavaria, several individual cities have started offering services not available online elsewhere in the Bundesrepublik. Augsburg, for example, launched a digital building permit approval (Baugenehmigung) this week.

Bavaria, Frankfurt and Hamburg also all offer their own portals for residents listing digital services – including registering and unregistering apartments and applying for state benefits.

Is Germany making progress towards digitalisation?

Within the framework of the ambitious law, almost all existing administrative services used by people and businesses in Germany are set to be converted to digital format.

Some of the key services set to be offered exclusively online, without going to an office or filling out paperwork, are registering a change of residence, applying for housing subsidies or a driving licence, issuing a birth certificate and obtaining a building permit.

Many have also pushed for immigration authorities – which have notoriously long waits for an in-person appointment – to offer appointments exclusively online.

Under the act, the option of submitting applications in paper form will remain for those who desire it.

However, Germany has frequently been criticised in the department of digitalisation. The Bundesrepublik lags behind many of its neighbours when it comes to how well countries are doing on digital skills and internet access. 

According to the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index for 2022, Germany took the 13th spot just behind France in the ranking.

The country is unlikely to improve significantly in the coming months: According to the budget plans, the Interior Ministry has earmarked €3.3 million for the digitalisation of administration and administrative services next year – compared to €377 million this year. The final budget is set to be cemented by the end of September. 

But individual states continue to push more services online – Berlin for example, announced on Friday that residents could apply for Elterngeld, or parental allowance, exclusively online. The service has long since been available free of paperwork, by contrast, in Bavaria.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, more and bureaucratic processes in Germany migrated online for the first time, including registering an address in some states, applying for a work permit, and requesting sick leave.

Still, online services can take a while until they’re fully functional, with some services announced as being exclusively digital yet still requiring paperwork and in-person appointments. 

READ ALSO: How using Germany’s new digital car registration service turned into a bureaucratic nightmare

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IMMIGRATION

Why German immigration offices are ‘permanently in crisis mode’

Endless waits for appointments and unanswered emails are becoming the norm at immigration offices all around Germany. Unions say the staffing crisis is driving Ausländerbehörden to breaking point.

Published: 8 December 2023 13:12 CET
Why German immigration offices are 'permanently in crisis mode'

Whether Berlin or Bielefeld, the story is the same: in most German cities, securing a timely appointment at the Ausländerbehörde is next to impossible. 

As The Local reported recently, foreigners in Stuttgart were forced to queue overnight for several hours in order to try and secure same-day appointments to renew their visas.

Despite the authority bringing in an emergency appointment system, the situation has got so bad that many are considering leaving the country for good, or find themselves unable to travel, even when emergencies strike back home. 

In other cities with high foreign populations like Berlin and Düsseldorf, readers have reported similar situations. 

This week there was a complaint that Berlin immigration services had made it even harder for people to find contact information and get in touch with their staff. 

According to services union Verdi, the current crisis in immigration offices around Germany is due to skeletal staffing.

READ ALSO: ‘No job, no money’: How German immigration office delays hurt lives of foreign workers

In cities with a population of 500,000 people or more, 30 percent of positions are vacant and unlikely to be filled anytime soon the union said. However, the real levels of understaffing are actual much higher.

The empty vacancies often include vital management positions that keep operations running smoothly, Verdi said. 

In medium-sized and small cities, the picture is similar.

Staff at breaking point

According to Verdi, the severe labour shortages in immigration offices aren’t just having an impact on foreigners, but are also affecting the staff who are already there.

“The workload for employees in all local authority immigration offices is extremely high because there is a lack of staff,” the union explained.

“Many employees are unable to cope with the immense work pressure and suffer from the fact that they are often unable to fulfil their tasks as they should.”

A sign for the immigration office in Frankfurt am Main.

A sign for the immigration office in Frankfurt am Main. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sebastian Gollnow

This is leading to stress and burn-out among existing staff, with workers in immigration offices taking a higher number of sick days than staff in other public offices. 

In smaller municipalities where staff have to deal with both residence permits and citizenship applications, reports of work-related stress are even higher. 

According to Verdi, the poor working conditions mean that many workers in immigration offices are now looking for other jobs, leaving those who remain with an even higher workload.

Summing the situation up, the union said employees at the Ausländerbehörden were “permanently working in crisis mode”. 

READ ALSO: Are Germany’s immigration offices making international residents feel unwelcome?

Could better pay be the answer?

To solve the current issues, Verdi is calling for a reassessment of salaries in immigration offices. 

“In order to retain employees, improvements in the pay grading system are necessary,” said deputy chairwoman Christine Behle. “The current problems can only be solved with sufficient staff.”

Behle points to the fact that the work expected of employees involves applying complex legal principles in asylum, immigration and naturalisation law and that knowledge needs to be continuously updated.

However, according to the Verdi union, employees’ pay doesn’t reflect this level of skill, and more money is needed from the state and federal governments to cover these costs. 

“To protect our welfare state and constitutional state, we need strong public services with well-qualified staff,” Behle said. “It is the task of politicians to create the financial basis for this.”

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