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Integration of Syrian refugees

Table A3. Overview of legislation toward refugees in Germany.
Germany is a signatory to the Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees of 1951 and has implemented it into the country’s law, according
to the timeline of migration history in Germany (DOMiD, 2016)
2005: A new immigration law came into effect, and integration was defined as a legal duty
September 2008: A naturalization test was introduced as a step to receive citizenship. Applicants have to answer at least 17 of 33 questions
correctly to receive naturalization
2008–2013: The Asylum Act and Residence Act are two important immigration laws in Germany which provide rules for the admission
and handling of refugee claims. Several amendments have been made to these laws due to the current Syrian refugee crisis
(Gesley, 2016b)
2014: The government convened the “Conference on the Syrian Refugee Situation: Supporting Stability in the Region” and called on European Union member
states to significantly expand their contributions (https://www.icvanetwork.org/system/files/versions/141028-BerlinConferenceDeclaration.pdf)
August 2015: An Act to redefine the right to stay and the termination of residence entered into force. This act grants a residence permit to persons who
can prove that they are “well-integrated” after a period of 8 years (4 years for minors)
October 20, 2015: Germany passed the Act on the Acceleration of Asylum Procedures, which aimed to: Accelerate the asylum process; substitute
in-kind benefits for cash benefits; reduce the financial burden on states and municipalities; reform integration policies for refugees;
and designate Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro as safe countries of origin (Gesley, 2015)
November 2015: An act entered into force to improve the housing, care, and treatment of foreign minors and adolescents, as a strategy to enhance the
situation of unaccompanied refugees
February 3, 2016: The German Government implemented the Asylum Package II with several objectives: To accelerate the asylum application
process; suspend family reunification for refugees with subsidiary protection status for 2 years; decrease Asylees’ monthly cash
benefits; facilitate deportation; establish a new Federal Police unit to help procure replacement documents; improve the safety of
refugee minors; and designate Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia as safe countries of origin (Gesley, 2016a)

Table A4. Overview of legislation toward refugees in Greece.
First wave of emigration from Greece to other countries was stimulated by the economic crisis of 1893 (Kasimis and Kassimi, 2004)
More than one million Greeks emigrated between 1950 and 1974. Most of them went to western Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Australia
Immigration to Greece grew at the beginning of the 1980s when a small number of Asians, Africans, and Poles arrived and found work in construction,
agriculture, and domestic services
The collapse of the central and eastern European regimes in 1987 transformed immigration to Greece into a massive and uncontrollable phenomenon
In the 1990s, Greece received the highest percentage of immigrants in relation to its labor force
A major factor that transformed Greece into a receiving country is its geographical location with extensive coastlines and easily crossed borders
The formation of a special control guard in 1998 in the northern border improved the situation in that area
2001: Act 2910 established a regularization program that dealt with “the admission and residence of foreigners in Greece and the acquisition of Greek
nationality through naturalization.” Due to their illegal status, a good number of immigrants escaped census registration, while still others
entered the country specifically to take advantage of regularization
2002: Action Plan for the Social Integration of Immigrants for the period 2002–2005: Included measures for the labor market integration and training
of immigrants; improved access to the health system; established emergency centers for immigrant support; and delineated measures for the
improvement of cultural exchanges among the various ethnic communities (Magliveras, 2011).
2011: The European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU indicated that the asylum system in Greece has deficiencies, a lack of
reception centers, and poor detention conditions, among other issues (Papademetriou, 2016)
2015: Greece implemented legislation to address immigration assistance, but problems remained, as noticed during the Syrian refugee crisis

International Journal of Population Studies | 2018, Volume 4, Issue 1 41