As at 17.09.2021 Important information for Afghan local employees working for German development cooperation

Since 16 August we have been able, in extremely dangerous conditions, to fly more than 5,300 people out of Kabul to safety. This figure includes over 530 German nationals and roughly 4,400 Afghan nationals, of whom almost 50 per cent are Afghan women.

What are the next steps?

The end of the military airlift does not however mark the end of our comprehensive efforts. These will continue. The German Government will keep on working to enable those people in Afghanistan for whom we bear particular responsibility to leave the country safely.

  • To this end we are, on the one hand, conducting talks on the future civilian operation of Kabul airport with the aim of ensuring that people can be evacuated on civilian flights at a later date.
  • On the other hand, we are getting things into place so that evacuees who manage to cross the land borders into countries neighbouring Afghanistan are able to continue their journeys to Germany quickly and simply.
  • The German Embassies in the neighbouring countries will issue entry documents quickly and simply to former local employees and other endangered persons who have been granted approval for admission. The missions will be given extra resources for this.

Whether it is worth risking the journey by land to the border is something you must decide for yourself depending on your individual circumstances.

For questions about procedures relating to local employees working for German development cooperation:

Note for former GIZ local staff: Please direct personal enquiries under the Federal Government's local staff procedure to okv-afghanistan@giz.de (External link), general and non-personal enquiries to afghanistan-info@giz.de (External link).

We will inform Afghan local employees working for German development cooperation in a separate communication.

What are the next steps …

The German Government is working to make arrangements with the neighbouring countries in order to guarantee safe entry and onward travel. The German missions in these countries will then help you continue your journey to Germany. Until you can reach them, your former employer remains your point of contact.

Further information on contacting German missions in the countries bordering Afghanistan will appear shortly on the websites of Federal Foreign Office, the German Embassy in Kabul and the missions concerned.

If you have your approval for admission, the German missions in the neighbouring countries will be able to issue you with documents to enter Germany quickly and simply, subject to a security check.

After the airlift ends, former local employees will still be able to submit hazard applications and applications for resettlement via their former employers, provided their employment did not end before 2013.

Please contact your former employers in this regard. Once your application has been processed and approval for admission granted, the German missions in the neighbouring countries will be able to issue you with documents to enter Germany quickly and simply, subject to a security check.

Afghan nationals active for example in civil society, the media, culture or science, whom the German Government had identified as being at particular risk before the end of the military airlift, and whom we had hoped to evacuate with the Bundeswehr, will also be eligible to enter Germany from countries bordering Afghanistan.

For the people concerned, this means that the Federal Foreign Office will contact you and inform you if you have been granted approval for admission. When this happens, the German missions in the neighbouring countries will be able to issue you with documents to enter Germany quickly and simply, subject to a security check.