An IT specialist decided to sell appointments online on the black market due to a severe shortage of available services in Germany’s Immigration Offices (Ausländerbehörde), which is responsible for issuing and renewing visas and residence permits to foreign nationals, a recent report by Tagesspiegel has revealed.
According to the report, many immigrants living in Germany have resorted to different forums and Facebook groups for advice, and then they were messaged privately by the IT specialist and offered an appointment for €40-€100, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Officially, appointments at Germany’s migration offices are free of charge. However, the system is affected by a lack of staff and digital services, as well as a growing influx of people into the country. Thus, even those with urgent matters find it difficult to secure an appointment.
As explained by I Am Expat Germany, in some cases, some people have also queued through the night for a visa appointment only to be turned away if their document’s expiration date is more than a week, as it is not considered an urgent case.
Taking into account such ‘problems’ in the system, the IT specialist, who is identified only as “T”, decided to use their coding skills to manipulate the system and gain access to appointment slots before they became available for the general public.
According to I Am Expat Germany, this is not the only case, as the black market for appointments continues to thrive, with other people offering similar services on different platforms. Moreover, it has been stressed that two websites also publicly offer these services for a fee of €50.
Commenting on the matter, T, who is a former computer science student, said that he himself was unable to secure an appointment at the local Ausländerbehörde in Berlin. Consequently, T decided to take develop a code that would notify via email immediately after a new appointment became available, giving them an advantage.
T started offering this service to the public in January of this year, and as the report shows, the IT specialist earned between €800-€1,000 by selling appointments to individuals from different countries, including Afghanistan, Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, and the US.
T has discontinued this service, saying that they were concerned about being discovered and facing potential consequences. However, T defended their actions, claiming that they felt no moral qualms about providing appointments in exchange for money.
T argued that many individuals and companies offer similar services, making it almost impossible for people to secure appointments through traditional means.
Based on this report, there is an immediate need for reform and improved access to immigration services. Moreover, the authorities need to increase the number of staff and replace the outdated systems so that no more exploitation of the system takes place in the future.
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