"Everything that attracted me to Germany was gone. And at one point I said to myself - enough is enough. I don't want my children, if I ever have any, to grow up in this country," says Yannis. He arrived in Germany from the Greek island of Samos at the age of 18 to study engineering. But in 2020 he decided to return to Greece - after 16 years in Germany.
"The lazy Greek", "the corrupt Greek"
Yannis worked in the German city of Essen as a project manager in the private sector, and then as a civil engineer in the public sector. Finally, he tried his luck as a freelance specialist. "I did everything I could to build my life here, but I kept encountering obstacles", says the 39-year-old. He recalls one specific example. "I was working on a construction site, and the client refused to pay the last installment - over 100,000 euros. He told me that he wouldn't let me get rich in Germany."
According to Yannis, this is an eloquent example of the negative attitude towards his migrant background. It is experiences like these that make him feel as if he has never been accepted into society. He realizes that no matter how much he integrates, he will always be seen as "that Greek". And ultimately, this motivates him to leave Germany. "First at university they tell you that you are "the lazy Greek", then at work you become "the corrupt Greek". I am proud to be Greek. It has all become toxic for me," the man says.
A quarter of migrants are considering leaving Germany
A new study shows that Yannis's experience is no exception. Based on a survey of 50,000 migrants who moved to Germany between the ages of 18 and 65, the study found that one in four is considering leaving the country. The study did not include asylum seekers who do not yet have a recognized residence status in Germany. According to the results, people who are highly educated, successful and well-integrated - i.e. the people the country needs the most - will leave Germany, according to the study.
According to the study, the reasons for the intention to emigrate from Germany are "the result of a complex interaction between individual characteristics, economic reasons and social integration". Respondents often cited family back home, political dissatisfaction, high taxes and bureaucracy as reasons.
Just over a quarter of people in Germany have a migrant background. About 6.5 million people have settled in the country since 2015, many of them Syrians and Ukrainians.
"It's like you're a ghost"
Utku Sen is a 33-year-old cybersecurity engineer. The young man left Germany after three years of living in the country. The reason was the feeling of being excluded from society. His first year in Berlin was "like a honeymoon", but then Sen realized how difficult life can be for a foreigner who doesn't speak German well enough. "As a Turk, I always felt like a second-class citizen. And I realized that it would take me decades to become part of German society," he says.
Sen posted a video in Turkish explaining the daily discrimination he experienced in Germany. In it, he likens life in Germany to the movie "The Sixth Sense". "There is life out there, far away from you. But you wander like a ghost. Others don't even know you exist, you can't communicate with them," Sen explains.
The young man later moved to London. He says that being able to speak to people in English makes his life much easier. "Unlike the Germans, the British are generally more open to foreigners and other cultures. "I haven't faced discrimination here," he says.
"I started to become colder"
According to Kalina Velikova from Bulgaria, speaking the language perfectly doesn't necessarily help you break down barriers in Germany. Velikova is 35 and lived in Bonn for nine years, where she studied and worked. She says she also felt isolated as a student, despite speaking perfect German. "I'll never forget how long it took people to let me in - even just as a fellow student. One day I would be talking to someone, and the next they would pretend not to know me. That just doesn't happen where I come from," says Kalina.
Over time, the social isolation began to take its toll on her. "I started to get colder. I felt like I was developing an allergy to Germany, and I didn't want it to be that way." In 2021, Velikova left Bonn and returned to Sofia, where she now works as a project manager. "Of course, there are daily struggles here too. But overall my quality of life has improved - even though I earn less and work more."
A delicate issue for politics
According to economist Christian Dustmann, language remains a key factor in integration. At the same time, the expert believes that the feeling of inhospitability is not unique to Germany. "If you do a similar study in the UK, the answers probably won't be much different from those in Germany," he says.
Study by the "Bertelsmann" Foundation from 2024 shows that more and more people in Germany are worried about the potential negative consequences of migration - they fear, for example, rising welfare costs, a shortage of housing in cities, challenges for the education system. Therefore, according to Dustmann, politicians must approach it very carefully: "Policy has to walk a very fine line - not to expand the population too much and at the same time be hospitable to newcomers, who are an important part of the economy and society".