Welfare organizations want undocumented people to be allowed to work

Asylum seekers can work after four months. But undocumented migrants cannot. They have already gone through their asylum procedure, have to leave the country, but sometimes they cannot, for example because they do not have a passport or because the situation in the country is not yet safe enough, such as residents of the Gaza Strip or Afghanistan. We don’t even have a cooperation agreement with Afghanistan to send people back.

“Only winners”

The welfare organizations are now arguing for an unambiguous rule that these people can also receive a temporary permit to work. Because they already work in order to survive, but that is not now in a legal or people-friendly way. They also point to the many vacancies that are not being filled, in healthcare, but also in construction, catering and retail.

The initiators of this action are making a case for linking the needs on the labor market to people without legal residence with the right competences and/or diplomas. A link with only winners: the employers, the migrant, society and the economy, they say.