Bremen: Couple has to pay back 33,000 euros in citizen's money because of their stay abroad!

Bremen: Couple has to pay back 33,000 euros in citizen's money because of their stay abroad!

A scandalous case from Bremen is currently causing a stir: a Nigerian couple has to pay back almost 33,000 euros in citizen's money. The reason for this repayment? The couple stayed abroad for years without informing the responsible job center. As merkur.de reports, the Lower Saxony-Bremen State Social Court decided that the two had completely lost their right to financial support.

The couple had been receiving benefits under SGB II since 2014, so they started with Hartz IV and later switched to citizen's benefit. But as it turned out, the couple did not live in Bremen, as they claimed. Investigations revealed that they probably lived permanently in Nigeria from 2016 to 2018. Evidence of manipulation, unoccupied apartments and contradictory statements ultimately led to suspicions that the couple was continuing to deceive the job center. A passport control incident at Bremen Airport in 2018 also brought to light discrepancies that made the authorities sit up and take notice.

Investigations and contradictions

The judges did not believe the couple's objection that they had only been away for a short time. The evidence of possible deception was overwhelming: In addition to the unoccupied apartment, there were also irregularities such as the man's registration with a Nigerian transport company and the woman's admission as a lawyer in Nigeria. The couple's children also attended school in Lagos. All of these facts led to the job center revoking the approval notices and demanding repayment, while the couple failed in their legally binding objection and lawsuit at the Bremen Social Court.

What is particularly piquant is that the court found that the burden of proof was reversed here. Normally the job center would have to prove the absence of the citizen's benefit recipient. In this case, however, the judges managed to show that the couple had “persistently” deceived. This leads to a warning to everyone who receives similar benefits: It is absolutely necessary to clarify all stays abroad with the job center in advance, as [gegen-hartz.de](https://www.gegen-hartz.de](https://www.gegen-hartz.de/judgments/kein-brgergeld-nach-halt-im-ausland-33000-euro-mussen-jetzt-zurckgezahlt- Werden) reports.

Outlook for future cases

The ruling will probably also have far-reaching consequences for future cases. Citizen benefit recipients are normally allowed to stay abroad for a maximum of three weeks per year without losing their entitlement. Anyone who is absent for a longer period of time or does not obtain approval from the job center must expect similar consequences. One would think that most people learn from such experiences, but as buergergeld.org aptly puts it, the problem of proof requirements remains. An example that illustrates this is the case of a Berlin family who had to pay back 22,600 euros due to a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Overall, this case dramatically shows how important transparency and honesty are when receiving social benefits. Don't let these experiences put you off: always clarify your stays in advance and make sure that everything is correct!