Migration: Significantly more deportations – the main destination country is Georgia

Significantly more people were deported from Germany last year than in 2023. As a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced when asked, there were a total of 18,384 returns in the first eleven months of 2024. In the entire previous year there were 16,430 deportations. “Bild” first reported on the numbers.

The main destination country last year was Georgia, which Germany classified as a safe country of origin at the end of 2023. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there were more than 1,600 deportations to Georgia in 2024.

Georgia is considered a safe country of origin

Safe countries of origin are those in which it is assumed that there is generally neither persecution nor inhumane or degrading treatment and that the foreigner concerned is therefore not at risk of serious harm in his or her home country. This makes it easier for an asylum application to be rejected.

In addition, an asylum application does not have a suspensive effect. This means that those affected can sue in court against a negative decision from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, but then have to wait for the outcome of the procedure abroad. Since March 2017, people from Georgia have been allowed to travel to Germany for short stays without a visa.

The main country of origin of the deportees is Turkey

Turkey ranks first among the main countries of origin of people deported last year. 1,720 Turkish citizens had to leave Germany this way in 2024. Georgians were in second place with 1,678 deportations, followed by people from Syria, Afghanistan, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Iraq.

The German authorities did not take some of the foreigners who were deported in 2024 to their countries of origin, but to other EU states that were responsible for their asylum applications according to the so-called Dublin rules. This is especially true for people from Syria and Afghanistan. According to the Interior Ministry, of the 816 Iraqis that Germany deported in 2024, 615 people were brought to Iraq.

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, 1,361 Afghan citizens were deported from Germany last year. At the end of August, 28 male criminals were deported from Afghanistan to their country of origin. The Islamist Taliban have been in power again in Afghanistan since August 2021. They have come under international criticism, especially because of their massive curtailment of women’s rights, but also because of their harsh crackdown on human rights activists, demonstrators and journalists.