TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images
When you think about all the things that could possibly go wrong while on vacation, getting trapped in German bureaucracy is not likely to be the first thing to cross your mind — and yet that is precisely what happened to a Chinese man who recently visited the country.
When attempting to report a stolen wallet in Heidelberg, a 31-year-old Chinese tourist accidentally signed an asylum application, rendering him stranded as a refugee in the country for two weeks.
The tourist, known as Mr. L, spoke Mandarin only, and German authorities only realized the mistake they had made when they reached out to a Chinese restaurant to help interpret Mr. L’s case, the Red Cross said on Monday.
“He spent 12 days trapped in our bureaucratic jungle because we couldn’t communicate,” Red Cross refugee center head Christoph Schluetermann told Reuters. “Germany is unfortunately an extremely bureaucratic country. Especially during the refugee crisis I’ve seen how much red tape we have.”
According to Reuters, who first reported the story, Mr. L went to city hall following the theft of his wallet, thinking it was a police station. There, he signed an asylum application and was hauled off to a refugee center 220 miles away in Duelmen, where authorities gave him food and money like other refugees.
Authorities at the shelter began to suspect something was up when he arrived — particularly because of how well-dressed he was, the way he behaved, and the fact that most refugees entering Germany have been from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, not China.
“He kept trying to talk to people to tell his story but no one could understand him,” Schluetermann said. “He kept asking to get his passport back, which is the opposite of what most refugees do.”
Finally, after Red Cross staff exhausted translation apps in attempting to understand the Beijing resident, they contacted a local Chinese restaurant for help — where they learned what went wrong.
According to Schluetermann, once the situation was resolved the man was “happy to leave but not upset,” saying that “Europe was not what he had expected.”
Next, learn about the Muslim refugees that are converting in the wake of the Syrian Civil War.
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