Even in Corona times, the Foreigners' Registration Office serves a large number of customers every day
18.11.2022 – Offenbach's Foreigners' Office in the town hall is one of the busiest offices in the city administration alongside the Citizens' Office. The coronavirus pandemic has done little to change this, as shown by the office's statistics as at December 31, 2021.
In 2021, the 25 employees of the Immigration Office attended around 17,000 appointments and dealt with the concerns of a total of around 40,000 customers. For example, 8,000 electronic residence permits, tolerated stay permits and residence permits, as well as 3,100 fictitious certificates were issued and around 140,000 cases were processed - the majority of them digitally. Before the pandemic (2019), employees processed around 85,000 non-public processes. There was a shift here due to the pandemic and digitalization.
The office was also involved in around 400 entry procedures for foreign nationals, issued over 1,000 authorizations and around 500 commitments to attend an integration course, as well as 350 declarations of commitment.
"These figures underline the importance of the Immigration Office in Offenbach and the high level of commitment of my employees, especially in special times such as the coronavirus pandemic," says Clemens Mickler, Head of the Immigration Office.
City Treasurer Martin Wilhelm, as the responsible head of the Foreigners' Office, knows that the employees faced particular challenges during the pandemic and continued to work with great commitment for the customers: "In the new situation, the team had to find other ways as quickly as possible to serve the many inquiries and concerns of the customers. Together, solutions were found that will continue to develop the office and work processes beyond the pandemic. I am pleased that the figures reflect the successful work of the office."
Thanks to the switch in all areas of the Foreigners' Registration Office in June 2020 to appointments only, longer waiting times for certain services are now a thing of the past. Nevertheless, we ask for your understanding that due to the large number of services to be processed, it may take some time to respond to enquirers, sometimes even to make an appointment.
The Immigration Office has been located in the town hall since the beginning of April 2022. The entrance is located directly at the Herrnstraße / Berliner Straße playground.