Germany alone saw more than 1.1 million migrant arrivals in 2015, often stretching the country’s asylum system far beyond what it was designed for.
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The government isn’t giving any forecast for this year’s total.
Syrians were the biggest single group arriving in July, followed by nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, and Russian Federation.
A Chinese tourist who tried to report a stolen wallet during a visit to Germany unwittingly signed an asylum application that got him stranded as a refugee for two weeks in the country’s burgeoning asylum bureaucracy, Reuters reported.
The unusual journey began when the backpacker had just arrived in the southwestern city of Stuttgart. Hoping to report the theft, he searched for a police station, according to the German broadcaster WDR.
However, due to an unspecified mixup, he ended up speaking to refugee authorities in the city of Heidelberg, over an hour’s drive away from Stuttgart.
From there, he was sent to the refugee home in northwestern Germany.
He was soon placed in a shelter in Dülmen near the western city of Dortmund in early July – where his passport was taken from him, as the “machinery kicked into gear from which he couldn’t immediately escape”, Christoph Schlütermann of the German Red Cross (DRK) told the German DPA news agency. Mr. L, who only speaks Mandarin, was taken 220 miles to a Red Cross refugee camp in Dülman.
There has been only a tiny number of Chinese asylum seekers over the years, Schluetermann said.
He went to a local Chinese restaurant for help, who advised him to use a mobile phone translation app to communicate with the tourist.
The tourist was able to continue with his travels after receiving money from his Chinese home, according to the newspaper.
Authorities told reporters that this appeared to be a unique situation, driven by a series of unusual circumstances.
Despite the delay, the unnamed tourist apparently had no complaints. There, he was given the standard items refugees receive: food and spending money.
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Eventually, the man was allowed to resume his journey.
