Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

Hi I will update this post, but I think you have several options. Try to get to any country you can that is in Schengen, once you are in you can carry on your freelance work, apply for working visa and go to Berlin for interviews. If you find a company to work for they will help you out, almost every country is in demand for devs.

I theory, I believe you may just come to Europe and if you state at the border that you seek an asylum they can't refuse you ( according to international laws, until your asylum is decided on ) and then take it from there.

Turkey is the closest country you don't need a visa for.

I will make an update but in any case don't double-check everything yourself, those are few things I vaguely remember from school.

German here. I think asylum isn't what you want. If the company in Australia that you worked for can not help you get in touch with companies in Germany. Tell them what you can do for them and about your situation. A lot companies are used to employ IT professionals from all over the world and know how to do get you here.

Skip Germany and go to Sweden or England, where people are more than happy to speak English, and there is already many Syrians in Sweden, especially in Sodertalje. Sweden will accept you based on your skills far more easily than Germany, all you need is to find a job, and right now the market is open for a guy of your skills - programmers are in high demand. Look around on various Sweden/Stockholm job posting sites, from there you get the visa and safety. The startup scene is also nice.

As someone else mentioned in Germany as asylum seeker you arent allowed to work. You can come to Sweden and seek asylum and you'd be allowed to work, and when you do sign a contract then you can get a permit to stay and cancel the asylum request. PM me and Ill give you names of good companies that are on the lookout to hire.

As others said, to be able to apply for asylum in EU country X, you have to first set foot in that country X and not in another one, so, go to Turkey or Israel and then fly to Sweden from there.

Sweden is also more flexible, its a country where they look out for the best interest of you as a human (mostly), so if you come to Sweden and continue working for Australian company - it is enough to get a work permit, all you have to do is prove that you earn more than minimum amount, I believe around 1500usd and pay taxes, to be accepted.

As a war refugee my self, I urge you strongly to leave Syria now, for the love of god no matter the price, buy those tickets and get the hell out of there and far away as possible, Sweden, Canada, Australia. (Not Germany, France, Italy, USA, Turkey they all suck.)

Your life is all you got, dont waste it on that war. Take with your closest family if you can.

If one EU state offers you asylum, which shouldn't be too hard because your country is notoriously dangerous, then you can work anywhere in the EU. So you could get asylum from Italy or France, then move to Berlin when you have your papers, which takes several months during which you can't have a declared job (in France, they may make sure you don't work by sending you to a transit camp, which is basically a jail).

If you tell them you're an experimented software engineer, it may be much faster to get a work visa than asylum. Ask for this work visa to each embassy in Damascus.

Also, Morrocoan cities are growing like crazy. There may be some business to do there and they may give visas more easily.

I am no expert on asylum situations, but my impression is that the first country in the European zone that you enter is the one that decides which asylum rules you'll follow. You need to speak to a lawyer. Sorry I can't provide any more insight than this. Good luck.