A significant increase in the time taken to process asylum applications in Germany has been revealed, with the average duration now stretching to 13.1 months, considerably longer than the 11 months recorded in the previous year.
This finding stems from a parliamentary inquiry by Clara Bünger, a parliamentarian from the Left party and disclosed in a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Federal Office for Migration and Asylum (BAMF) took an average of 8.7 months to reach a decision in the same period last year.
The primary contributing factor to this delay is a decision-making suspension affecting applications from Syrian refugees. As of the end of July, 52,117 applications from Syrian asylum seekers remain unaddressed, some pending for over eleven months.
While the processing of “Dublin procedures” – those involving clarification of responsibility for refugees entering the EU via another member state – has seen a slight acceleration from 2.8 months to 2.5 months year-on-year, administrative court decisions on asylum appeals have also improved marginally, decreasing from 16.6 months to 15 months.
Clara Bünger has voiced concern regarding the suspension of processing applications from Syrian refugees, stating that the ongoing instability and danger in Syria necessitate a resumption of assessments and the provision of protection to vulnerable Syrian asylum seekers. She further emphasized the unacceptability of asylum procedures exceeding a year in length, underscoring the need for asylum seekers to be integrated and settled more efficiently.
