Counseling offers

We are offering free qualified individual counselling on asylum and residence law, for refugees and migrants.
In addition, we offer advice, information and training for professional and volunteers who are working in the field of refugee support, as well as for employers.
We are open for cooperateion with everyone who wants to actively and solidary pursue the rights of refugees and migrants.

...for refugees / migrants:

  • we check the available options to legally remain in Germany in each individual case
  • we are offering advice and practical support to refugees and migrants
    • during their asylum procedure and eventually in the following court procedures
    • to fulfill the legal obligations to cooperate in clearing their identity and obtaining a passport, especially with respect to obtain a work permission
    • when applying for work, looking for jobs, job contracts and legal issues regarding worker's law
    • when applying for the right to remain in Germany for people who are in "Duldung" (e.g. Beschäftigungsduldung, Ausbildungsduldung, Chancenaufenthaltsrecht, § 19d, 25a, 25b u.a. AufenthG, hardship applications)
    • when applying for residence permits, permanent residence or naturalization ("Einbürgerung")
  • we are referring our clients to specialized lawyers if necessary, and checking options for monetary support for legal proceedings
  • we support refugees with special needs/issues and are cooperating with the relevant professional organization in individual cases (pychological support organizations, LGBTQI*, HIV assistance, prevention of domestic violence, recognition of foreign qualifications etc.)
  • we are providing printed information for refugees, and offer informatory events and group events for refugees

...for professionals and volunteers in refugee work, and for (future) employers

  • we offer assistance (by email, phone or in person) to professional social workers and volunteers, regarding questions on refugee work and migration law. We are also supporting companies and employers who want to provide job opportunities for refugees.

Principles of our work:

Our counseling work is:

  • independent - we are supporting and representing only our clients, and are acting as independent as possible from state, government and economical interests.
  • confidential - we have the obligation to remain silent towards third parties on all information and documents given to us by our clients during the counseling, except having been given written permission by the clients before. All such information and documents will be handled by us with due diligence, and in accordance with general data protection laws.
  • free of charge - our counseling and advice is for free, and we are not asking our clients for financial compensation for our work.
  • legally not committed - we encourage our clients to get a second opinion on their cases, if in doubt. While we are offering our counsel based on long-time experience in the field of refugee work and laws, we are not qualified lawyers. According to the German Legal Services Law ("Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz"), we are therefore not allowed to do certain tasks which only fully qualified lawyers are allowed to do. But if necessary, we cooperate with specialized lawyers, and still can help them to prepare the necessary information and evidence for legal procedures in individual cases (i.e. time-intense tasks which lawyers often cannot do by themselves due the effort and work involved).

Individual counseling: in our main office in Tübingen we are offering individual appointments for counseling. It is mandatory to book an appointment in advance. Requests for appointments will usually be handled quickly by our staff, so that a meeting in our office can then usually be arranged on short notice afterwards.

Mobile / outreaching counseling: we are offering regular "open" consultation hours in some of the government-run refugee accomodations / camps in the Tübingen area. In exceptional cases we also offer an outreaching support for individual clients, or accept clients from farther away.