take ahmad shehabi, for instance, a young syrian refugee we accompanied five months ago, as he took the dangerous balkan route all the way to germany. we caught up with him again this week, and found out that immigration is first and foremost, a waiting game. >> ahmad shehabi is in safety, in germany. since he fled syria five months ago, he's lived in a small asylum-seekers hostel in the town of greiz in central germany. he had hoped to study and work in germany, but he doesn't have the necessary papers to do that. >> this is the most important place for all of us, this is the postbox. every day we look for it, if we have a post or not. our post here is for acceptance about residence or something like this. >> ahmad is waiting for the recognition of his refugee status. at the moment, he only has a temporary residence permit, and can't bring his wife to germany. the two fled from syria to turkey. ahmad left his wife there, and set off alone on the dangerous journey across the mediterranean. his wife was afraid she'd never see him again. >> i send her a message, that i am alive. she said,

take ahmad shehabi, for instance, a young syrian refugee we accompanied five months ago, as he took the dangerous balkan route all the way to germany. we caught up with him again this week, and found out that immigration is first and foremost, a waiting game. >> ahmad shehabi is in safety, in germany. since he fled syria five months ago, he's lived in a small asylum-seekers hostel in the town of greiz in central germany. he had hoped to study and work in germany, but he doesn't have the necessary papers to do that. >> this is the most important place for all of us, this is the postbox. every day we look for it, if we have a post or not. our post here is for acceptance about residence or something like this. >> ahmad is waiting for the recognition of his refugee status. at the moment, he only has a temporary residence permit, and can't bring his wife to germany. the two fled from syria to turkey. ahmad left his wife there, and set off alone on the dangerous journey across the mediterranean. his wife was afraid she'd never see him again. >> i send her a message, that i am alive. she said,