Since 2009 Germany has introduced legal changes addressing young forced migrants granted the precarious legal status of a temporary suspension of deportation ('Duldung'). These changes are to facilitate their access to vocational training and a legal residence permit. However, a precondition for participation in vocational training is an employment permit from local migration authorities. This turns migration authorities into institutional gatekeepers. Sometimes, migration authorities doubt, at least in part, the credibility of the identity statements given by refugees with a temporary suspension of deportation and therefore do not permit them to participate in vocational training. This article explores the phenomenon of an 'unclarified identity', investigates its background and sheds light on the highly sensitive process of identity clarification in the context of access to vocational training. In the long run, this process can be decisive for the social and territorial inclusion or exclusion of refugees whose deportation is suspended only temporarily and who are at high risk of being deported to their country of origin. The study is based on semi-structured individual and group interviews with professionals from migration authorities and other organizations as well as on document analysis (e. g. legal and administrative rules). Empirical evidence reveals the heterogeneity and complexity of organizational practices in identity clarification processes. Consequently, for refugees with a temporary suspension of deportation, highly unequal chances exist to move up within the hierarchy of civic stratification. © 2019 Zeitschrift fur Rechtssoziologie. All rights reserved.

Migration authorities qualitative implementation study unclarified identity precarious legal status civic stratification vocational training of young refugees

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