Germany's largest internet platform for immigrants 'SympatMe' - Elucidating Digital Technologies' Impact on Immigrants in Germany

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• Alexander Berg
• Monday 04 January 2016, 17:00-19:00
• Alison Richard Building (ARB), 7 West Road, 3rd floor, Room S3,.

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Refugees and labour immigrants arriving in Germany are faced with enormous bureaucratic challenges. Most of them do not speak German when they arrive in Germany. They struggle integrating into local society due to a lack of cultural understanding and an inability to find their way in bureaucratic terms.

This talk will focus on how new digital technologies impact on immigration flows and their integration into local society. As a case study, the internet platform SympatMe (www.sympat.me) will be used. It is a young Internet project that supports immigrants in Germany in dealing with formal procedures and bureaucracy. SympatMe is one of Germany’s biggest internet platform for foreigners. Here, foreigners can fill out paperwork online, in their own language. The forms are then automatically translated into German. The project offers foreigners, or ‘expats’, to complete all the steps they must do before their first day at work in Germany. Specifically, these steps include, 1, filling out the German registration form online, 2, applying for a tax identification number, 3, opening a (free) German bank account, 4, applying for public or private medical insurance in Germany (this includes arranging a session with an English-speaking health insurance employee), 5, receiving a free German prepaid SIM , 7, applying for the German social security number, and finally, 8, deregistering upon leaving Germany. As such, the project can be considered a digital technology that facilitates the official German bureaucratic process of bringing about ‘order’ and giving the immigrant a formal, bureaucratic integration. The website has been featured in German media, has received support from German companies as well as public institutions. As such, it is a great case study for examining the impact of digital technologies on the immigrant’s life in Germany.

There are several other so-called ‘expat platforms’ that also offer help, mainly in the form of information on daily life in Germany. At the moment there is a proliferation of private websites that are aimed to mobilise people to help refugees in Germany. They arrange meetings via internet platforms and organise shifts to help refugees that are waiting inside of tents in front of registration offices. Finally, how do these technologies then affect our perception of immigrants and refugees in Germany? What role do they play in public debate? How do they facilitate the formal integration of immigrants into Germany?

German summary:

Diese Veranstaltung untersucht den Einfluss von digitalen Technologien auf die formale Integration von Immigranten in Deutschland anhand von “SympatMe”, eine der größten Anlaufplattformen für Immigranten und Flüchtlinge in Deutschland. Die Plattform bietet sich als Fallstudie hervorragend an, das sie Ausländern in Deutschland ermöglicht, bürokratische Schritte online zu erledigen. Dabei können Immigranten in ihrer eigenen Sprache Formulare ausfüllen, die dann automatisch ins Deutsche übersetzt werden. Die Anmeldung oder Abmeldung eines Wohnsitzes, Beantragung einer Steueridentifikationsnummer oder Sozialversicherungsnummer sind Beispiele der bürokratischen Unterstützung. Denn offiziell sind die meisten Formulare nur in deutscher Sprache erhältlich. Auch große Unternehmen, wie die Deutsche Bank und die gesetzliche Krankenkasse AOK haben sich als Partner auf der Platform dazu bereit erklärt, den Immigranten vermehrt entgegenzukommen, indem sie ihre Services in englischer Sprache anbieten. Neben SympatMe gibt es immer mehr private Webseiten, die die lokale und formale Integration von Immigranten und Flüchtlingen in Deutschland erleichtern. So stieg besonders zwischen Juni und Oktober die Anzahl Webseiten und Social Media Gruppen, die sich als Ziel setzten, bei der Ankunft und Organisation der Flüchtlinge in Deutschland aktiv zu helfen. Doch inwiefern helfen diese Plattform tatsächlich bei der Integration und Unterstützung formaler Prozeduren? Wie kann man den Einfluss digitaler Technologie auf das Leben der Immigranten in Deutschland sichtbar messen? Auf welche Weise beeinflusst es die öffentliche Debatte um Immigranten in Deutschland?

This talk is part of the Immigration in Germany series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Alison Richard Building (ARB), 7 West Road, 3rd floor, Room S3,
• Immigration in Germany

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