Germany Halts Processing Asylum Claims from Syrians

Due to the situation in Syria, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees made an immediate decision on Monday to stop accepting asylum applications from Syrians, Spiegel reports.

After the fall of the Assad regime, a discussion about the fate of Syrian refugees began, as it affected German asylum policy. It is still not clear whether a return to Syria is possible. At the moment, the BAMF is not making any new asylum decisions.

According to a spokesperson for the authorities, the regulation does not apply to the so-called Dublin procedures, in which another EU country is responsible for the asylum procedure. This applies to all applications for which the situation in Syria is critical. Currently, more than 47,000 asylum applications from Syrians are pending, of which 46,081 are initial applications. For many years, Syria has been one of the main countries of origin for asylum seekers in Germany.

‘The BAMF follows the individual case very closely, which also includes an assessment of the situation on the ground in the country of origin,’ said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior. 

The federal agency has the option to postpone an asylum decision if the situation is unclear. And it is clear that the situation in Syria is currently unclear. In practice, this means that applications from Syrians are ‘sorted into a pile and other asylum decisions are given priority’.

The day before, rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling the end of President Assad's rule, which lasted more than two decades. It is still unclear whether Syria will be safe for its citizens after the change of power.