Large-scale migrant legalization scheme exposed in Munich

The Munich Office for Foreigners is suspected of a scheme to provide residence permits to illegal migrants for money, and several of its employees have been arrested as part of the investigation. This was reported by Welt.

The investigation suspects five current and one former employee of the Munich Migration Office of making illegal decisions on immigration status in exchange for money on numerous occasions between May 2022 and January 2024.

It is alleged that one of the defendants, the owner of a private company, helped foreigners obtain fake work permits in Germany in exchange for money and have a legal basis for staying in the country.

The Munich District Administrative Office (KVR), which includes the Office for Foreigners, came across the scheme and found “inconsistencies in the handling of cases” as a result of internal monitoring, Welt reported.

The main charges in the case are suspicion of bribery and forgery.

The KVR said that as part of the investigation into the scheme, investigators summoned five employees of the agency for questioning, and the rest were informed about suspicious cases.

Recently, Germany has been actively talking about the need to revise its migration policy, citing the increase in violent crimes by migrants.

In the February federal elections, the German far-right AfD party won a record 20%, surfing on anti-migrant and anti-EU rhetoric.