Albanians returned from Germany, hard to reintegration to Albania

Illegal immigration and asylum-seeking in Germany for economic motives now appear a closed chapter for the citizens of Albania.

99.4 % of asylum seekers, following rejection by German authorities from 2014-2017, have returned to Albania, mostly voluntarily and a binding share. A study on Albanian immigration in the last 25 years, conducted by the Albanian Institute for International Studies, supported by GIZ and newly published in Tirana, notes that another category of returning migrants is that of those who have lived legally for many years in Germany or conducted high studies there, reports “DW”.

Reintegration of former immigrants, legal, illegal or asylum seekers returning to Albania is not easy. After years of life and work in Germany, they have difficulty with local mentality, find no jobs, face low salaries, lack of game rules, inefficient public administration and corruption, the GIZ-backed study notes, albinfo.ch.

Prof. Dr. Costa Barjaba, who conducted this study, sociologist, immigration expert, tells DW that in efforts to re-integrate them have some distinctive characteristics from migrants returned from other EU countries, mainly from Greece or Italy.

Germany's “Returners have a greater attraction on the labour market, are able to sail to the open sea” and create their own enterprises. They have had great difficulty integrating into Germany, which has made them more competitive. The harder integration into Germany, the greater the experience and entrepreneurial skills they have gained. They have realised that the battles they have to carry out with Albanian markets, with the Albanian environment more severe, as the speed of their movement is greater than that of Albanian society. They have become almost Germans, Europeans in mentality, labour habits and culture”, Prof.Dr tells DW. Barjaba.

The strong economy and low unemployment rate make Germany a magnet that attracts Albanians to emigrate there. Furthermore, Germany tends to have a relatively open-door <x0policity towards immigrants, being the country that accepts migrants more eagerly than other EU member states, the study notes. Many of the former asylum seekers, especially young people, aim to emigrate to Germany, now legally. They are improving their knowledge in German, attending professional courses and receiving information from local and German authorities regarding legal immigration. There is another category that is targeting Germany: student youth, a medical graduate, and Infermier, is studying German as the necessary condition for finding a work contract in Germany. According to information about DW from the German Embassy in Tirana, last year three thousand citizens from Albania obtained work visas and emigrated to Germany to work and live there.

Is Albania's brain leaving in Germany?

No, says of DW, Costa Barjaba: “in Albania there is a wrong perception of legitimate immigrants, enabling Germany for Albania and other Western Balkan countries. True, Germany is open to take the elites from any country in the region or beyond. But in concrete cases Germany is looking for people for health services, mainly for the elderly. The German health and social systems have many intermediate professions that offer patients services, have a wide range of jobs that the German labour market cannot handle for its own reasons, and for which it hungers. So Germany is magnet at the moment, in short Germany is looking for no brain but professionals for certain services. You're looking for your brain and taking it for example. Canada, which has a super-qualified immigrant selection system”, he points out.

The slow movement of society compared to the individual

Professionals for media service in Germany's healthcare system currently do not need Albania because its health system does not have these services. But even when there is, once again the desire to emigrate will be great. There will always be people, young and new, who want to leave Albania. This as the speed of moving forward, the speed of social change is very slow compared to the individual's speed on the one hand, and society in EU or West countries, on the other hand,”, Kosta Barjaba says of DW.