What will happen to Syrian asylum seekers in Germany & Austria?

Over the weekend, Syrians all over the world took to the streets to rejoice in the news that the Assad regime had finally fallen ending 14 years of conflict. European governments too swiftly reacted to the fall of the Assad regime, triggering a chain reaction of policy reassessments regarding Syrian asylum applications.

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom announced that they would review their asylum practices in light of the ongoing developments in Syria.

Greece for instance has already told the news magazine Politico that it will suspend its processing of 9,000 asylum applications from Syrians that are pending. It has said it will announce on Friday this week whether to cease processing all Syrian asylum applications completely.

An official from the French Interior Ministry told Politico they will “put a stop to the avalanche of appeals on asylum applications from Syrians.” The official added the country was “working on a suspension of current asylum applications from Syria.”

Even before the fall of Assad, many European countries were admitting they were struggling to accommodate the numbers of asylum seekers, including Syrians arriving.

According to Italian government data, Syrians (more than 12,000) form the second largest national group in terms of arrivals to Italy in small boats after Bangladeshis (more than 13,000). More and more Syrians, including women and children, have been arriving in Italy over the course of this year.

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Amnesty International criticizes the decision

Rights group Amnesty International slammed the move saying that the situation in Syria is extremely volatile. 

“Five decades of brutality and repression cannot be undone overnight. But European governments have wasted no time halting asylum applications of Syrians. At this time of turbulence and change, countries should avoid plunging Syrian refugees and people seeking asylum into situations of further uncertainty and precarity,” stated Amnesty International in a press release. “Instead, the safety and agency of people seeking asylum must be placed at the heart of decision making and not sacrificed to the rabid, anti-refugee politics currently gripping Europe,” Amnesty International continued in an email.

Millions of people have fled Syria since 2011, many of them seeking refuge and international protection in Europe and Turkey, as well as neighboring countries in the Middle East, like Lebanon and Jordan. Any potential shift in asylum policies will have a huge impact on Syrian asylum seekers in Germany and Austria, since according to data compiled by the European statistics agency Statistica, Germany and Austria hold the greatest number of Syrian refugees in the EU bloc.

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Germany: home to the greatest number of Syrians

On Monday, Germany announced that it will freeze asylum processing for Syrian citizens, citing the unclear and unpredictable political situation in Syria.

The move will affect some 47,270 pending asylum applications from Syrians. Data from the national Statistical Office indicates that this year, roughly 75,000 asylum applications were submitted by Syrians, as of November.

Senior members of the opposition party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are pushing for Syrians to be returned en masse, news outlet Al Jazeera reported. The CDU has taken a hardline stance on irregular migration and has made increasing deportations one of its core campaign promises. The CDU has taken a significant lead in polls leading up to the federal elections in February 2025.

Speaking to Euronews, Lamya Kaddor from Germany’s Green Party expressed shock at the call for deportations: “I think that’s more than cynical and, to be honest, populist. And it misses the point of the lives of many German-Syrians and people who come from this region.”

Government data estimates that 973,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023. About 712,000 (73 percent) have been granted refugee status, including asylum seekers with pending applications and asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected but have been granted temporary protection or a suspension of deportation (duldung) on humanitarian grounds.

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Austria: Preparing for ‘orderly repatriation and deportation’

In a similar move, Austria has also suspended the provision of asylum to people arriving from Syria “until further notice.” Additionally, Chancellor Karl Nehammer called for a review of all approved asylum applications and the suspension of family reunifications.

“I have instructed the Ministry to prepare a program of orderly repatriation and deportation to Syria,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added.

The news magazine Politico reported that there are around 100,000 Syrians living in Austria at the present time. Since the minister did not clarify which asylum statuses might be affected by the government’s repatriation and deportation plans, fears among the Syrian community of their future status in Austria could be growing.

An estimated 7,300 asylum applications that are still pending are most likely to be affected. Syrians represent the largest group of asylum seekers in Austria, with 12,871 applications having been submitted this year up to November 2024.

Nehammer and Karner are part of the Austrian caretaker government and are both from the conservative People’s Party (OVP), which has also taken a hard line on immigration.

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UNHCR: Suspend asylum processing but not application

As European countries reassess their asylum policies in light of the uncertainty in Syria, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) emphasized the importance of continuing to allow Syrians to avail themselves of humanitarian protection.

“There is a remarkable opportunity for Syria to move toward peace and for its people to begin returning home. But with the situation still uncertain, millions of refugees are carefully assessing how safe it is to do so. Some are eager, while others are hesitant,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The UNHCR stressed that while the suspension of asylum decision-making can be “acceptable” under the current circumstances, asylum procedures must still be be available for those who need them.

“Syrian asylum-seekers who are waiting for a resumption of decision-making on their claims should continue to be granted the same rights as all other asylum-seekers, including in terms of reception conditions. No asylum-seeker should be forcibly returned, as this would violate the non-refoulement obligation on States,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

The UN agency called on countries to allow Syrian refugees the opportunity to make informed decisions, free from pressure. While the situation in Syria remains uncertain, refugees must not be coerced into returning to conditions that may not yet be safe, they underlined.

Massive airstrikes against ISIS

On Saturday, immediately following the collapse of the Assad regime, US forces conducted massive airstrikes in central Syria against known ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) camps and operatives, reportedly striking more than 75 targets.

“There should be no doubt — we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria. All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way,” Centcom Commander Army General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement following the strikes.

Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that the US and its allies would continue to work to prevent the militant group from consolidating power in Syria.

“Centcom, together with allies and partners in the region, will continue to carry out operations to degrade ISIS capabilities, even during this dynamic period in Syria,” Singh said.  

Earlier this year, the United Nations had warned that ISIL was growing stronger in Syria, filling in a void left by 14 years of war.