The Ukrainian community of Germany is small yet sizable at around 250,000; Germany's Ukrainians have created a number of institutions and organizations, such as the Central Association of Ukrainians in Germany and Association of Ukrainian Diaspora in Germany. Although most of Germany's Ukrainians are German citizens, a large number of them are Ukrainian students from Russia and Ukraine in Germany on an academic scholarship. The majority of the Ukrainian population lives in the former DDR
Tourist-visa scandal
In 1999, a conflict arose involving the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who eased conditions for citizens of the former Soviet states to get German visas. Many people opposed to this claim that it enabled thousands to enter Germany illegally using abuse of visas granted to them. The majority of Ukrainians that are in Germany on scholarship are there on such visas, adding to the controversy.
Some Ukrainian organizations in Germany have accused Germans of racism and prejudice, and of the belief that Ukrainians are only in Germany to work illegally (despite the large number of ethnic Ukrainians who are second- or third-generation German citizens).