EU asylum policy: What changes for refugees in Germany?

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is the European Union’s legal framework to create uniform, fair and efficient standards for processing asylum applications.

The system’s reform, agreed in 2024, will become legally binding in Germany and throughout the EU in June 2026. EU member states had a two-year implementation period during which the new rules — including stricter border procedures — were transposed into national law.

Germany’s federal government of the conservative Christian Democratic Union(CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has now finalized its legislative proposal.

Here’s what that will mean for refugees in Germany.

Special asylum centers

So-called “Dublin cases” — that is, refugees who are registered in other European countries or have already applied for asylum there — may be detained in special asylum centers (Sondermigrationszentren). The federal government hopes this will make deportations faster and easier and ensure that refugees cannot go into hiding.

However, the decision on whether to set up these asylum centers lies with the federal states. These must still approve the new regulations, and the Bundesrat, the representative body of Germany’s federal states, must also give its consent.

Avoiding hardships for families and children

As a rule, minors and their families should be allowed to leave the facilities after six months.

“It was really important to us to make sure there won’t be any unnecessary hardships for kids and families and that vulnerable groups are protected,” said SPD internal affairs expert Sebastian Fiedler.

Work permits and health care

Refugees who have already filed an application for asylum and all those who have been granted temporary permission to stay will get faster access to the labor market in the future. Whereas the waiting period was previously six months, it will now be reduced to three months.

The German government wants to improve health care for refugee children and enable examinations in the first 36 months beyond just pain management and preventive checkups.

Criticism of new legal provisions

The introduction of closed refugee centers for the so-called Dublin cases has been criticized by German human rights organizations such as Pro Asyl, which warn against such detention facilities.

Pro Asyl’s legal policy spokesperson, Wiebke Judith, is calling on members of parliament to strip the law of provisions that “infringe on human rights, such as restrictions on freedom and detention.”

“With this deal on implementing the CEAS in Germany, the governing parties are taking a new hard line against asylum-seekers. From now on, refugees will be placed under curfew in reception centers beginning from day one — first at night, and later during the day as well,” said Judith.

“In addition, asylum-seekers face the threat of being detained during the asylum process. Even children and other vulnerable people are not exempt from this. In these respects, German law goes far beyond what is required by EU law.”

Why reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS)?

The reform, adopted by the European Union in 2024, aims to make the European asylum system more structured and efficient, to further limit illegal migration and to speed up asylum procedures.

The core problem so far has been that countries on the outer borders, such as Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece, have not been taking back migrants who have traveled on to other EU countries, despite EU regulations.

For Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), CEAS is “the framework for implementing the migration reversal in Europe.” By June, after a two-year transition period, the CEAS regulations are to be legally applicable in all EU countries.

In Germany, this is probably going to happen sooner, as the Bundestag is expected to pass the amended draft law in February.

Impact of Germany’s far-right AfD

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The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been rising in the polls, largely due to its anti-immigration campaign.

Five of Germany’s 16 federal states will be going to the polls this year to elect their regional parliaments.

The southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg and the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate go to the polls in March. In both states, the CDU is hoping to be able to head the government.

Elections will be held in the city-state of Berlin and the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in September — both states where the AfD is polling strongly.

None of the other parties are willing to join the AfD in a coalition, but in Saxony-Anhalt, they are currently so far ahead of all other parties that they might be able to govern the state without a coalition partner,which would be a first in Germany.

Will Germany deport rejected asylum-seekers to non-EU countries?

In the future, asylum application procedures are to primarily take place at the European Union’s external borders. There are plans for fast-track procedures in camps where asylum-seekers from countries with low recognition rates (less than 20%) are identified immediately upon arrival and, if their applications are rejected, can be deported immediately.

Five EU countries, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Greece, are now looking into possibilities to set up deportation centers outside the EU for rejected asylum-seekers who cannot be deported to their countries of origin.

Interior Minister Dobrindt has described “return hubs,” or repatriation centers outside the European Union, as “innovative models.”

Plans for asylum procedures to be carried out in non-EU countries are also already in the pipeline. Critics argue that such plans are not in accordance with EU law.

This article was originally written in German.

Author: Oliver Pieper

First published: January 30, 2026

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