Migration policy: fewer asylum applications, more deportations: Faeser satisfied

The executive Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser is satisfied with her balance sheet. “Our goal was to strengthen the immigration of work and specialists, to effectively limit the irregular migration and to effectively combat the smuggling crime. In all three areas, we have made a lot of progress,” she said in Berlin looking back on her term. In addition, Germany offered more than 1.2 million war refugees from Ukraine, including almost a third of children and adolescents.

The number of people looking for protection in Germany has increased since 2021, but then decreased again in 2024. The number of applications decreased by 30.2 percent compared to the previous year. The decline in the total number of applications was even clearer. Faeser sees this as a success of her policy: “We have accelerated and digitized asylum procedures, and we have further strengthened the Federal Office for Refugees and Migration.” Above all, the number of unauthorized entry has dropped, also thanks to border controls and a harder approach to smugglers.

… and what experts say about it

According to the head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Hans-Eckhard Sommer that Serbia actually blocked the refugee route to Hungary in Hungary in November 2023 is a main cause of the decline. It is open whether this will remain so permanently. Faeser said that she herself campaigned for better cooperation with Serbia, which now fought the smuggling crime.

The deputy chairman of the Council of Experts for Integration and Migration (SVR), Birgit Glorius, told the German Press Agency: “Certainly the border controls on the German borders have ensured a decline in irregular entry, especially to Poland and the Czech Republic.” In addition, there would be fortifications of the EU outer border in the east and EU agreements with states along access routes to combat the smuggling. It also called the reintroduction of the visa light for Indians and Tunisians as well as more migration from Africa to the Canary Islands instead of Italy.

“However, this does not mean that the global escape pressure has subsided,” said Glorius. So people fled in Sudan. “The situation in Gaza is also extremely precarious, and the political situation in Turkey also requires increased attention to the escape.”

In the expansion of border controls, Faeser sees an important reason for the decline in irregular migration. In October 2023, she also ordered fixed controls that were previously only available on the land border with Austria, also for the borders to Switzerland as well as Poland and the Czech Republic. In the meantime, it is checked at all German land borders.

Since October 2023, the federal police have found around 86,000 unauthorized entry as part of the controls and rejected about 50,000 times people, said Faeser. However, it is unclear how many of these people have come later or elsewhere. Anyone who requests asylum at the border, whose application for protection is checked.

When it comes to the Union, there will be more rejections under a likely future black and red federal government. However, the SPD only wants to do this in agreement with neighboring German countries.

According to Faesers, the federal police arrested more than 2000 smugglers from October 2023. “In 2024, the federal police found 10,000 people who were felled. In 2023 there were still 40,000,” she said. According to the police union (GdP), more than 90 percent of irregular migrants pay smugglers when trying to achieve Europe. The GdP demands more investigations, money and staff to pursue relevant money flows.

Duration of asylum procedures

Faeser praised that asylum procedures were “accelerated and digitized” and the BAMF was strengthened. In fact, the duration of the asylum procedure has increased. Anyone who makes an asylum application in Germany is waiting for an average of 8.7 months. Processing at the BAMF last year lasted as long as it has not been since 2017. At that time, 10.7 months passed from the application to the decision. This may be related to the fact that complicated old cases were processed in 2024.

The number of deportations has increased significantly during the traffic light time, from almost 12,000 in 2021 to more than 20,000 last year. Tensions are likely to have contributed to this. The statutory maximum duration of the departure custody has been extended from 10 days to 28 days. In addition, officials in community accommodation can now also enter other rooms than just the room of the to be deprived of. The CDU MP Christoph de Vries accuses Faeser Schön-Rederei: The number of returns is still under that of the last Corona year 2019.

The number of specialists who come to Germany to work here is now significantly higher – since 2021 by 77 percent. Faeser attributes this to the reform of the specialist immigration law, which has gradually entered into force since November 2023. “If you bring good qualifications, experiences and potential, you can now work much more easily in Germany,” said Faeser.

The Green Interior politician Misbah Khan also sees progress, but warns: “Serious deficits continue to exist, especially in the digitization of the migration management and the recognition of foreign qualifications.” The CDU MP de Vries, on the other hand, notes: “The alleged increase in the immigration of skilled workers is dissolved in the air when you consider that in 2021 there were hardly any specialists in our country due to the Corona limits.”

Citizenship and integration

The number of participants in integration courses has increased, according to the Ministry of the Interior around 2.5 times since 2021 – in parallel, among other things, for the number of refugees from Ukraine. Those whose asylum procedures are still running can now also participate in integration courses, where people learn German and are introduced to life in this country.

The path to a permanent right of residence has become easier for migrants about the so -called opportunities for opportunities for the traffic lights. In addition, after a reform of citizenship law, immigrants can become German citizens after five instead of eight years, provided they can make a living without state help. Double citizenship has also become possible for non-EU citizens.

Criticism came from the left-wing MP Clara Bünger. “Anyone who celebrates deportation and rejection as political success devalues ​​and places human rights to dispose.

The fact that the outgoing interior minister will also be the future is unlikely: in a new federal government under a Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), the Union is likely to claim the Interior Ministry.

Notification of the Federal Ministry of the Interior