Migration policy: significantly fewer asylum applications in the first half of the year

A significant decline in the number of asylums: According to current figures from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), 61,336 people made an application for protection in Germany for the first time in the first half of this year. That is almost 50 percent less than in the corresponding period of the previous year. The “Bild” newspaper first reported on the decline. The figures are also available to the German Press Agency.

“In the period from January to June 2025, 72,818 formal asylum applications were made, including 61,336 income and 11,482 follow -up applications. This was 44.9 percent less than in the previous year in January to June 2024 with 132.201,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin.

Several reasons for decline

In addition to the gradually introduced stationary controls at all German land borders, measures from Balkan countries should also have contributed to the reduction of irregular migration to this development.

Another factor is the changed location in Syria, where long-term power holders Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown in December. Syria, the main country of origin of asylum seekers in Germany for years, was 15,127 applications just behind Afghanistan in the first half of 2025, which now leads the list of the most important countries of origin with 15,181 first.

Dobrindt feels confirmed

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), who has been in office since the beginning of May, sees his course confirmed in migration policy. Dobrindt said the “Bild”: “These are significant successes of the turning point.

Germany had already started controls in 2023 to deny migrants without the necessary papers. With the start of the new federal government in early May, the controls were then expanded and the rules were tightened: Unlike before – also people who express an asylum request.

Poland starts controls – negative consequences expected

In response to this, Poland wants to temporarily introduce controls on the border with Germany on Monday. Not only the government in Warsaw expects that the negative effects on traffic in the region should have. Brandenburg’s interior minister René Wilke (non-party, for SPD) and the chambers of industry and commerce in Brandenburg and Saxony warn of great traffic jams.

Traffic jams should be prevented

The Federal Ministry of the Interior wants to keep traffic disabilities as low as possible as a result of border controls. Shortly before the controls started on the Polish side, the ministry announced that solutions are checked in order to avoid traffic jams on Autobahn 12 in Brandenburg. Due to German controls, traffic disruptions have already occurred there.

“The federal police guarantee the ease of cross-border travel and goods traffic to the greatest possible extent,” said a ministry spokesman for the German Press Agency. According to this, structural changes on the A 12 between Frankfurt (Oder) and Swiecko are under discussion.

Germany has long been a main goal of so -called secondary migration in the EU. The term describes the continued migration of migrants who promise to start or better conditions in Germany.