This was due to a technical problem at the interface between the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and four state criminal investigation offices. The online security check system (OSiP) used in Hesse was particularly affected.
According to a joint investigation by taz and the platform FragDenStaat, this meant that a complete security check was no longer possible in thousands of cases.
Fictitious certificates instead of Residence permit
Norbert Euler, Head of the Immigration Office in Frankfurt, explained to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that when examining temporary and permanent Residence permit from certain countries, up to five security checks were necessary - including one at the State Criminal Police Office. As this could not be carried out due to the faulty interface, the procedures got stuck.
As a result, the authorities were only able to issue so-called fictitious certificates. Although these provisional certificates legally allow residence in Germany, they cause great uncertainty for those affected - for example when contacting employers, taking up studies or registering their place of residence.
And not only applications for temporary and permanent Residence permit are likely to have been affected by the IT glitch. Security checks are also mandatory for naturalization procedures. The responsible offices use the same interfaces to the state criminal investigation offices for this purpose, which were not functional for weeks during the disruption.
It can therefore be assumed that there have also been considerable delays in numerous naturalization applications in the federal states concerned.
Thousands of procedures blocked - security checks not possible
According to media reports, the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) confirmed that the malfunction was caused by a modernization of the software interface. This connects the OSiP system with the state criminal investigation offices.
Data was also lost between March 12 and 16. Information submitted during this period had to be resubmitted.
The immigration authorities in the affected countries were forced to postpone numerous procedures as a result. According to estimates, several thousand people who have applied for a Residence permit or an extension are affected.
Problem has since been resolved
The problem was only resolved on May 27. The Federal Office of Administration announced that the interface is now working again. A provisional solution is currently enabling the authorities to process the accumulated applications.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the regular issuing of residence permits should resume by the end of this week.
