Foreigners' Registration Office - Welcome Office

Representatives of the Ministry of the Interior of the state of Saxony, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), as well as the Saxon Commissioner for Foreigners, Geert Mackenroth, and Mayor Miko Runkel, Department 3 of the City of Chemnitz (representing the Mayor of Chemnitz, Barbara Ludwig), attended the event.Mayor Barbara Ludwig), presented both the strategic importance of the pilot project and the concrete improvements using the example of the "Welcome Office" in Chemnitz.

The implementation of the BAMF-funded project ends this year, so that it was now possible to take stock. "The project was an important milestone. However, this is by no means the end of the matter for us," says Legal Mayor Miko Runkel. "We want to build on our experiences in our work and continue to develop as a welcoming authority. In doing so, we want to further expand the service and intensify our cooperation with external partners. This applies above all to the TU, for which foreign students and graduates are becoming increasingly important."

In 2013, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) launched the "Immigration Authorities - Welcome Authorities" project. The aim of the pilot project is to accompany and support immigration authorities on their way to becoming "welcoming authorities".

The city of Chemnitz applied and was named as one of ten selected model locations. In addition to Chemnitz, the immigration authorities in Bietigheim-Bissingen (Baden-Württemberg), the district of Deggendorf (Bavaria), Essen, Kiel, Magdeburg, Mainz, Potsdam, Weimar and the Wetterau district are also taking part in the project.

The aim of the project is to make administrative processes in the local authorities' immigration offices more customer-friendly for foreigners. The focus was placed on the following three areas in particular:

The kick-off event for the pilot project took place in Nuremberg in October 2013.

A lot has happened since then. An overview of what has already been achieved and the further objectives:

Since mid-2014, the Foreigners and Citizenship Office has switched completely to an appointment system. Applicants used to have to wait in the sober waiting area, sometimes for hours, until they finally got their waiting badge or even went home again in frustration due to large crowds. Now the Foreigners and Citizenship Office works exclusively according to an ordering system and allocates both short and long-term appointments. This results in better planning for both customers and employees.

With a view to further expanding the service concept, the introduction of an online appointment system is also planned.

Since April 2015, an employee with language training in English and French has joined the team at the information desk. There are also plans to extend the opening hours of the information desk, as well as English courses for employees of the Foreigners and Citizenship Office.

The team was further sensitised to intercultural issues through various training courses offered by the accompanying consultancy firm and other courses.

However, due to the extreme increase in the number of cases in the past, the objectives of the project can only be achieved with additional staff. Since the beginning of the year, the team has been strengthened by a further six employees.

The existing networks with the Technical University and the Federal Employment Agency were expanded. Cooperation with the City of Chemnitz's Migration Advisory Council and the City of Chemnitz's Migration Officer has improved sustainably.

As part of its public relations work, the Foreigners and Citizenship Office has expanded its presence at various events. In addition to participating in the Integration Fair and the Intercultural Weeks, the Immigration and Citizenship Authority supports various event formats with specialised presentations (e.g. at the Chamber of Crafts and at the university)

Cooperation/communication within the administration has also improved. One example of this is the brochure "Welcome to Chemnitz", which was created as part of a joint interdepartmental project.

Last but not least, the Foreigners and Citizenship Office was spun off from the Public Order Office on 1 January 2015 and assigned to the Citizens' Office. This also reflects the change from a purely regulatory authority to a customer-orientated welcoming authority.

The most visually striking change is the relocation of the information centre to the waiting area and the opening up of the space through the installation of glass elements. This was intended to achieve greater transparency.

In addition, better orientation was achieved through the colour design (the doors of the consultation rooms were given a contrasting colour). The information and waiting area in friendly colours now forms an immediately recognisable contrast to the long white-painted corridors.

A previous point of criticism from both customers and employees was the poor acoustics during consultations. The installation of sound-reducing elements at the information desk has led to a noticeable improvement. After completion of the test phase, the realisation of the soundproofing in all consultation rooms was commissioned. Implementation is planned for the end of September/beginning of October 2015.

A multilingual visitor guidance system (English, French, Russian) has also recently been installed to provide better orientation for foreign customers.