Dear @someoneingermany,
Welcome back to the Wefugees Community and thank you for your question.
I am afraid, however, that it is hardly possible to give any profound recommendation or advice for your friend at this stage and based on the information you shared. On the one hand, his options in Germany may depend on his status/type of residence in Ukraine. On the other hand, it is still rather unclear how certain political decisions by the EU or the German government will be eventually implemented.
The EU governments agreed last week on a resolution on "temporary protection" for refugees fleeing from Ukraine - without an asylum application. The German Ministry of Interior is sharing on its website (in German though) that the following groups of people will be able to apply for this temporary protection connected with a residence permit according to §24 of the German Residence Act:
- Ukrainian citizens who resided in Ukraine before the 24th of February 2022
- Stateless persons or third country nationals (other than Ukrainians) who were entitled to international protection or comparable national humanitarian protection
- Family members of these two groups of people, also when they are not Ukrainian nationals
The Ministry is further mentioning that third country nationals who had a permanent residence permit in Ukraine and who are not able to return to their country of origin may also be able to apply for this residence permit. Other third country nationals who were residing with a temporary residence permit in Ukraine (before the 24th of February) and who are also not able to return safely to their country or region (not clear for me yet what this implies) of origin may also be considered. Whether other groups of people may be able to apply for this residence permit as well, is still to be assessed according to this website.
However, as Pro Asyl highlight:
"At the latest stage of processing (March 4, 2022), no details were available on the exact implementation of the resolution in Germany, in particular with regard to an extension of the scope of application."
Handbook Germany (I recommend this website as well to follow the latest developments; they also publish information in Ukrainian language) state that it is still very unclear who will actually be able to apply for the temporary protection. According to their explanations, i.e. asylum seekers, international students, or labour migrants are not considered by the resolution - and we do not know yet if the individal EU members states may extend or modify the resolution in the upcoming days or weeks.
Whether other types of residence permits (for studying, work etc.) may be an option for your friend, depends on his individual conditions. The German government stated that the respective visa application procedure for the national visas will be suspended for the time being for Ukrainians. Since your friend is a Turkish citizen though, he most probably will be asked to apply for a national visa at the German Embassy in Turkey.
Whether an asylum application might be the best way for him should be discussed, from my perspective, indivually and carefully at a refugee support/counselling centre once he arrived in Germany.
Please note that I am not a lawyer and can not provide detailed legal counselling. I will link my dear colleague @Alla_fka here as well, I hope she can correct me in case I misunderstood the latest developments. Maybe Alla can also add more information.
In any case, please don't hesitate to get back to us with any further questions.
All the best for you and especially also for your friend,
Meike