The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced the resumption of hearings for Syrian asylum seekers, after a hiatus that began in December 2024. This is the first step toward processing thousands of pending cases.
The Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that the office began conducting preliminary hearings for Syrian asylum seekers on May 2. However, it clarified that these hearings are currently limited to information gathering and listening, with no decisions on acceptance or rejection, given the unstable situation in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime.
The office had suspended all decisions related to Syrian asylum applications at the end of last year due to the "confusing and dynamic situation" in the country. This led to the suspension of hearings, which are the basis for decisions on granting or rejecting protection.
According to official figures released by the BAMF as of March 31, 2025, there are more than 52,000 asylum applications from Syrians still pending, including more than 51,000 first-time applications.
For his part, Patrick Schmidtke, head of the Migration Department at the Federal Office, said on the sidelines of his participation in a legal event at the Hohenheim Days on Migration Law in Stuttgart: "In a rapidly changing situation, hearings help provide deeper insights into the situation inside Syria. Many EU countries are adopting the same cautious approach."
This gradual return is an important step in the Syrian migration file in Germany, but it still does not reach a final decision, at a time when tens of thousands of Syrians are awaiting the fate of their applications amid rapid developments in the Syrian situation.
Fares Al-Rifai - Zaman Al-Wasl
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