Syrian refugees design app for navigating German bureaucracy
by Philip Oltermann in Berlin from Technology | The Guardian on (#1PHW0)
The developers behind Bureaucrazy want to help natives and newcomers who share their bewilderment at the nation's red tape
Munzer Khattab likens German bureaucracy to a game of snakes and ladders. When the 23-year-old from Latakia on the Syrian coast arrived and registered in Berlin last year, he was given the address of a job centre in another part of the city. But when he turned up at the address, the building was shut for renovation. He eventually stumbled into the replacement office by accident two weeks later.
"In Syria, there was always a way to avoid bureaucracy, even if it meant paying a bit of extra money. Here, there is no way around the paperwork," Khattab said.