ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees reviewed 8,981 Syrian refugee cases in the first nine months of 2026, revoking asylum protection in most cases on the grounds that the individuals no longer face danger in their home country, the agency told Rudaw.
According to the agency, another 17,440 cases were awaiting decisions over the same period, as Germany moves to reassess the protection status of Syrian refugees, including Kurds from northeast Syria (Rojava).
Birgit Naujoks, head of the Refugee Council - an independent organization advocating for refugee rights - in North Rhine-Westphalia, expressed concern over the scale of the proceedings, linking them to the German government’s increasingly restrictive migration policy.
“We are very concerned that revocation proceedings are now to be initiated on a large scale for Syrian nationals,” Naujoks told Rudaw's Zinar Shino on Friday. “Of course, that does not automatically mean that every Syrian refugee will lose their protection status, as each case is reviewed individually, but the political will is very clear that many revocations should take place.”
Losing asylum protection generally jeopardizes refugees’ residence permits, although alternative legal grounds may allow some to remain in Germany.
“In principle, a revocation leads to the withdrawal of the residence permit based on protection grounds, but you always have to check: are other residence permits possibly an option?” Naujoks said, citing employment, education and family ties as possible grounds for alternative residency.
German authorities classify nearly 415,000 Syrians as recipients of state welfare, adding to political pressure to reduce public expenditure associated with migration.
The reviews come amid a broader crackdown on immigration under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose conservative government has pledged to accelerate deportations and tighten migration controls.
Last year, Merz declared that Syria’s civil war was over and argued that asylum grounds for Syrians no longer existed. He also pledged to deport Syrians convicted of crimes and invited Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Berlin to discuss the issue.
Germany’s tougher stance has gained momentum amid electoral advances by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which advocates stricter immigration rules and large-scale deportations.
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