Question:
“With regards to the following facts, my question is, whether I have any possibility to get a so-called blue passport?
About Myself
Dear Ms. Bauer,
first of all, I would like to express my respect and thanks regarding your/this site.
I am 39 years old and have been a resident of Germany/Hamburg for 35 years.
Because of a juvenile sentence from 2001 and the associated imprisonment, I am in the toleration status since 2007 until today. The asylum procedure was rejected. Because of the juvenile sentence I have been classified as obligated to leave the country.
Before my imprisonment, I was in possession of an Iranian passport and had a valid residence permit.
When I was released from prison, it turned out that the public prosecutor’s office in Hamburg could no longer find my passport. This is also on record and happened through no fault of my own.
Factual Situation
Since 2007 I have been trying to obtain a passport or passport replacement papers with and without the request of the foreigners’ authority. These cannot be issued to me for factual reasons on part of the Iranian consulate. Moreover, neither did I have such papers with me nor my parents when I entered Germany as a 3-year-old.
Because I never served the Iranian military, I accordingly also don’t have an Iranian identity card. With the expired invalid passport copy of myself and as a minor within my mother’s passport it is not possible to get replacement papers. Efforts by third parties in Iran to speak on my behalf were unsuccessful. And I was told to contact the responsible consulate. The Iranian consulate reported this situation about my non-existent documents in writing to the foreigner’s authority.
I listed all this to emphasize my willingness to cooperate as well as the actual reasons and the lack of my own fault in this matter. Now, I recently became a father to a daughter and the toleration status has become even more unbearable for me.”
Reply
Dear Reader,
you have had to deal with the German authorities and the Iranian consulate at great length, but you have managed to deal well with everything so far. I assume you are in possession of an electronic residence permit with the toleration status “Duldung” and probably you are also employed…. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter!
The „blue passport“ is only issued to refugees who are recognized as refugees under the Geneva Refugee Convention (GRC) (Article 28 GRC). This does not apply to you.
However, you can try to apply for a travel document for foreigners (so-called gray passport) according to §5 Residence Ordinance. Such a passport can be applied for at the foreigners’ authority if there is no possibility to get a passport from your home country. It entitles to travel abroad. Often, however, a visa is also required. One of the requirements is that it is unreasonable for you to apply for an Iranian passport. We now assume that you have documented all unsuccessful attempts to obtain an Iranian passport and can present them to the foreigners’ authority.
Good luck!
This article was first published in German.
You can find more of Angelika`s advice here.
