Social Democrats calls Germany's refugee rules on families too strict

A measure restricting family reunification for refugees, which was passed by Germany's coalition government more than a year ago, was criticized as too restrictive from the junior coalition partner on Sunday.

Rasha Nasr, migration policy spokeswoman for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group that refugees integrated better with their families.

"The fact that so few applications have been successful does not mean they were submitted without good reason. It is due to the restrictive regulations. The permitted periods of separation for children and parents are not family-friendly, but unreasonable," she said.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative-led coalition suspended family reunification for two years from July 24 last year with the aim of curbing immigration.

Nasr said the regulation should not be extended and that preparations should now be made to clear the application backlog so that once the regulation expires, there are no further waiting periods.

Also speaking to RND, her SPD colleague Truels Reichardt questioned whether the regulation was constitutional, noting that Germany's Basic Law provided special protection for families.

According to government figures obtained by dpa last month, only 13 family reunification visas were issued on hardship grounds during the first year of the restriction.