Some 65,000 migrants have been denied shelter in Germany, but have been able to stay in the country nonetheless because they have no identification papers, says Germany's Interior Ministry, according to a report by Funke media company.
Most migrants denied shelter in Germany came from India (5,743), Pakistan (4,943) and Afghanistan (3,915). The citizenship of some 3,800 migrants on German soil remains undetermined.
The interior ministry report underscores that there is almost no contact between German officials and foreign embassies in Germany. The report says of the Indian mission: "sometimes the processing of requests for passport substitution documents is very slow, and sometimes it is never done at all."
As for Pakistan's, the processing "happens, but very slowly;" the Lebanese embassy "very rarely responds to requests, contact with the mission is very bad," the report says, according to Funke.
In the past, Germany has had numerous problems with North African nations on the same issue: the country of origin is obliged to provide documents for migrants, but fails to do so. Many people from North Africa simply toss their passports and pretend to be Syrians, the media company reports.
