Some of the people involved can also be extremely unpleasant to deal with, even if you speak German.
My observation was that by simply changing the view on what is happening and extrapolating how to act based on that one can achieve quite a lot.
I told people the following:
1. The person dealing with you is not there to help you, they are simply executing an act of governance. Rather than wanting them to help you, try to help them close their tickt.
2. You are the type of immigrant people actually want. These popele see lots of drama, lies, heartbreak and hopelessness. If you are pleasant and well prepared they will probably like working on your case since it will not make them feel bad.
3. Things take time. Be as early as possible with everything and realize that there early is a way to speed things up.
Keeping those three things to heart worked very well. That does not make things faster, but it takes a lot of frustration out of the process.
The reality is that bureaucracies are full of humans – and we all know how humans are.
There is no perfect competition, supply doesn't perfectly meet demand, and incentives aren't always perfectly aligned ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In any case, government services change through policy and, thus, indirectly, through the electorate. But a) it lags, b) is not the only issue the electorate care about, c) the supply of money is not infinite, d) the supply of labour is not fungible and e) in this specific case, policy on immigration is generally driven by people not immigrating, so the incentives are not aligned.
Meanwhile I can't choose between other government services while in Germany but those terrible forced upon me by the state.
Still took months with no success, because the German bureaucracy is in complete disrepair and is brain damaged.
Waiting times are annoying, but that is because of an overloaded system, everything else was pretty painless.
Isn't this just German culture, though? I had that experience just buying groceries and going through the checkout line!