Hundreds of migrants wait for to register at Berlin's central registration center for refugees and asylum seekers LaGeSo (Landesamt fuer Gesundheit und Soziales) State Office for Health and Social Affairs in Berlin, Germany October 1, 2015. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

By Michelle Martin

BERLIN (Reuters) - When Hesham fled Syria in early August with his pregnant wife and baby, he was sure all would be well once he got to Germany. Instead the hope has turned to despair after weeks of waiting to be registered at an overcrowded reception center in Berlin.

The 26-year-old former chef is one of the hundreds of migrants who crowd around a small screen at the registration office every day, desperately waiting for their number to come up so they can go inside and get a certificate that is the first step in the asylum process.

Some climb on top of barricades to get a better view while others lie out on the grass surrounded by suitcases and plastic bags which hold their few possessions. When volunteers hand out apples and bananas, scuffles break out.

"I wish I'd stayed in Syria and not come here," Hesham said through an interpreter. "I dreamed Germany would be better but it's so bad. We've been sleeping in the cold. Now my baby is sick."

What was once a relatively smooth process for new arrivals has turned into a confusing nightmare for many as cities and towns across the country struggle to cope with a surge of refugees from the Middle East.

A record 800,000 migrants are expected this year. More than 200,000 arrived in September alone.

As the numbers have risen, registering the newcomers in a timely fashion has become virtually impossible.

At the center in Berlin, asylum seekers, some of whom are sleeping outside, say they have been waiting as long as 25 days to register. With winter looming, the same frustrating delays are occurring in other cities across Germany.

"The biggest problem at the moment is the initial registration of people and providing them with the basics – that's not working well in an awful lot of places," said Rebecca Kilian-Mason, who runs a project in Munich that informs migrants about the asylum process in Germany.

The long waits to register are at the top of a list of problems that German authorities are wrestling with.

They must find winter-proof accommodation, provide asylum seekers with funds to survive, treat health problems, identify migrants with no documents and weed out those who falsely claim to be Syrian because the German government has made clear that those fleeing the civil war there will be allowed to stay.

Then there is the challenge of sending back the tens of thousands of migrants who are not granted asylum and tracking down those who have not applied in the first place.

Frank-Juergen Weise, head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), estimates there are around 290,000 people in Germany who have not been registered.

In a country known for its order and efficiency, the influx is turning into a logistical nightmare -- for police and politicians as well as the refugees.

POLITICAL BACKLASH

Chancellor Angela Merkel has seen her popularity ratings slump to a four-year low. Her normally reserved Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere lashed out last week amid warnings from police that violent clashes at asylum centers risked spiraling out of control.

"They go on strike because they don't like the accommodation and they cause trouble because they don't like the food. They beat each other," de Maiziere told public broadcaster ZDF.

In Berlin, asylum seekers whose numbers appear on the screen are sometimes applauded by their peers as they make their way through the crowds to a meeting where they give authorities their name, date of birth and country of origin.

They have their photo taken and give fingerprints in return for a temporary identification document.

Around 5 percent of new arrivals in Germany are allocated to Berlin and some of those waiting at the capital's registration center will be distributed to one of the other 15 states via a computer system called EASY, which spreads asylum seekers across the country based on each state's population and tax revenues.

This whole process, along with the organization of train tickets, now often takes two days or longer compared with a matter of hours last year, said Silvia Kostner, a spokeswoman for Berlin's office for health and social affairs.

Georg Classen from the Berlin Refugee Council said authorities were struggling to deliver on a long list of promises, from accommodation and monetary stipends to health certificates.

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