Alleged Afghanistan trips ignite debate over German refugees' status

Germany's special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, has warned refugees living in Germany against taking trips back to their homelands as these might jeopardize their legal status as refugees.

"Germany must remain open to the world, but not stupid," Stamp told the German tabloid Bild. "The authorities must ensure that people who have applied for protection here but then go on holiday to their home country immediately lose their protected status and can no longer stay in Germany. Full stop."

Hamburg's Interior Senator Andy Grote told dpa that refugees travelling back to the country in which they claim to have been the victim of persecution would of course also call into question their protection status.

The officials were responding to reports by German commercial broadcaster RTL claiming that travel agencies in the northern German port city of Hamburg are organizing trips back to the Hindu Kush for people from Afghanistan.

"If there are easily accessible travel routes to Afghanistan, there is also the possibility of repatriation," Grote warned.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) noted that trips to a refugee's country of origin may be permitted in individual cases - for example due to a serious illness or the death of close family members.

In response to enquiries, the federal office said it examines each individual case to determine whether the protection granted should be revoked after it has become known that a person has travelled home.

However, the authority says it does not have precise data on how often protection has been revoked and does not does publish general statistics on such reviews.