General Information

Cases/Enablers
OOP Case
Appetizer
The Refugee Digitisation System was implemented in February 2016. All relevant authorities now have access to a single core data system which is administered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
OOP aspect
Information of an individual only needs to be provided once at first contact and can then be shared and re-used by the involved public administrations and other relevant entities.
Short summary
In 2015, approx. 1,1 million of refugees arrived in Germany. This mass migration provided public administrations in Germany with many challenges, starting with the registration and processing of incoming refugees. There were numerous agencies providing services for refugees and registering incoming people, using different IT systems. Refugees were sometimes registered multiple times due to misunderstandings or deliberate disguise. Translation errors or different alphabetical systems led to incorrect data entries due to spelling mistakes.

Therefore, the registration procedure for refugees was digitally standardized in order to avoid previous mistakes and to establish a data system all relevant authorities would have access to. The Data Sharing Improvement Law (Jan 2016) provided the legal basis for the exchange of data among the relevant authorities. The system behind the data exchange builds on the already established data standard XAusländer. All relevant authorities have access to a single core data system which is administered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The data is provided by the refugee at first contact with a state authority. The responsible authority then updates the core data system. Therefore, the data only has to be provided once by the refugee. Through the core data system, the data can then be reviewed and re-used by all responsible authorities for their respective purposes.

To improve data quality, fingerprints are now used as a legal identifier instead of a name. Furthermore, the registration of a refugee is a prerequisite for all public services, e.g. accommodation, food, health services.
Focus
Citizens
Start date
Domain
Public matter
Scope
National/Federal
Country
Germany
Nature and status of project
Rolled Out
Is the OOP case/enabler mandatory?
Mandatory

ENABLING ASSETS OR COMPONENTS

Relevant Enablers
Socio-cultural influence factors
Instead of the legal name, a fingerprint is used as a unique identifier. The registration is the prerequisite of all public services used by the refugee, e.g. accommodation, food, health services. Refugees receive a paper-based identity document that they have to show to receive the different means.

DATA HANDLING / DATA EXCHANGE

Type of data sharing
Actual data
Data handler
Stakeholder name
Foreign citizens
Stakeholder category
Citizen
Stakeholder name
Local foreign affairs
Stakeholder category
Government
Stakeholder name
Registration offices
Stakeholder category
Government
Stakeholder name
Federal Employment Agency
Stakeholder category
Government
Stakeholder name
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
Stakeholder category
Government
Stakeholder name
NGOs
Stakeholder category
NGO
Architecture
The data is being shared using XAusländer. XAusländer describes a standardised data exchange format based on XML. It includes the data concerning all aspects of foreign nationals exchanged between local foreign affairs offices and communication partners. The modelling of the data and messages takes into account the XÖV [public services] regulations and other standards in Germany.