Germany to ease visa conditions for some earthquake victims
Berlin, Feb 12: The German government wants to temporarily ease visa restrictions for survivors of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria who have close family ties to Germany if they are facing homelessness or were injured.
"It's about helping in times of need. We want to make it possible for Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring close relatives from the disaster region," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser tweeted late Saturday.
"They can find shelter with us and receive medical treatment," Faeser said. "With regular visas, which are issued quickly and are valid for three months."
However, not all the requirements of a regular visa procedure are being waived. Applicants must still be able to present a valid passport likely to be an obstacle for people who fled collapsing buildings.
Several million people in Germany have Turkish roots because, more than 60 years ago, West Germany recruited "guest workers" from Turkey and elsewhere to help the country advance economically.
More recently, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees came to Germany looking for safety from the brutal civil war back home.
Turkish and Syrian immigrants in Germany have been collecting aid, sending donations and worrying for their relatives back home. Calls to allow them to take in close family members from the devastated regions had been growing for days.
The German government said it would ease the normally very strict and bureaucratic visa conditions quickly, adding that the foreign ministry had already both increased its staff in Turkey and redeployed capacity at visa acceptance centers there.
Earthquake victims who wish to seek refuge in Germany and want to apply for a three-month visa need to prove that they have close family members in Germany who have German citizenship or a permanent right of residence, German news agency dpa reported.
The German host family member must submit a declaration promising to pay for the living expenses and subsequent departure of the person taken in.
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Karnataka govt to strictly implement the paid menstrual leave policy, after HC directive
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad has said that the government will strictly implement the paid menstrual leave policy across all sectors at the earliest, following the High Court directive.
The High Court of Karnataka had recently directed the state government to "strictly and faithfully" implement the menstrual leave policy, pending formal enactment of the proposed legislation.
"I welcome the directive issued by the Karnataka High Court in support of our state government's ambitious menstrual leave policy," Lad said.
The state government has taken firm steps to implement the menstrual leave policy comprehensively, and as a model to the country, he said in a post on 'X' on Thursday.
"In line with the court's opinion that menstrual leave is a matter of women's dignity, justice, and humane recognition of their lived realities, we will strictly implement the paid menstrual leave policy--equivalent to one day per month, or 12 days per year--across all sectors at the earliest," he added.
The court had said that in the interregnum, it shall be incumbent upon the state to ensure effective operationalisation of the policy through the issuance of suitable guidelines, circulars, and administrative instructions, as may be necessary to secure its uniform, consistent, and rigorous implementation across all sectors.
The court issued the directive while hearing on a petition filed by 41-year-old Chandravva Hanumant Gokavi, who works in a hotel in Mudalgi of Gokak taluk in Belagavi district, before the Dharwad bench, seeking implementation of the November 20, 2025, order of the government providing one-day menstrual leave for all working women.
