Of the six people that Ralph Schreieck took in in Karben in March, only three stayed in Germany.

Schreieck's wife is Ukrainian.

After the war began, her underage brother, sister and sister-in-law fled to them with their children.

The sister-in-law recently found an apartment in the neighborhood, she wants to stay in Germany.

The underage brother has been going to school in Germany for a few weeks.

But the sister and her children returned to Ukraine in early May to her husband who stayed in Lviv.

"I can understand that," says Schreieck.

They had planned their return several times.

When the war increasingly focused on the Donbass, they would have dared.

Kim Maurus

volunteer.

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After fleeing, many Ukrainians quickly wonder what to do next.

As in Schreieck's relatives, the answers are very different.

This is also due to the legal freedom that Ukrainians have in this country.

Before the war began, anyone who had a Ukrainian passport and came to Germany was allowed to move freely within the country for 90 days without a visa.

This visa-free residence period was recently extended.

Ukrainian refugees can now stay in Germany without a visa until August 31, regardless of when they entered the country.

If you want to stay, you can stay

In addition, after the outbreak of war, the EU granted war refugee status to people with Ukrainian passports and people with valid residence permits in Ukraine.

This status enables the displaced persons, among other things, to apply for a residence permit.

This entitles them to medical and social benefits.

The application can be made after Ukrainians have registered with the immigration authorities.

With the official residence permit, people can currently stay in Germany until March 4, 2024.

The admission works without a complicated asylum procedure.

First of all, if you want to stay, you can stay.

But by no means everyone wants that. At least that's how Manfred Becker, head of the department for refugee affairs at the Gießen regional council, sees it.

There is Hesse's initial reception center for asylum seekers - people from the Ukraine are not included, they do not have to apply for asylum.

Facilities like the one in Giessen stepped in at the beginning of the war to help register the refugees and distribute them around the country if they weren't staying with friends or relatives.

Like asylum seekers, the federal government also distributes the Ukrainian refugees among the states according to the "Königstein key" based on their tax income and population.

On average, people stay in his facility for three days, says Becker, then they are assigned to individual districts – but not permanently.

"Many want to go back, and many are back," says Becker.

According to his impression, it is even the majority.

Many parents did everything they could to ensure that their children continued to go to school in Ukraine via online lessons.

Some of the refugees continued to work online for their employers in Ukraine.

"You don't do that if you want to stay here," says Becker.

The men of the families often stayed behind, if only because of the compulsory military service in Ukraine.

The desire for reunification is great.