More and more Syrians in Germany are losing their status as refugees. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a parliamentary question from the left-wing faction.
In the first half of this year, 23.2 percent of a total of 8,320 checks by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) ended with the revocation or withdrawal of protection status.
In most cases it was about the withdrawal of refugee status or so-called subsidiary protection. For comparison: In 2025, after such a check, only 3.7 percent of refugees with Syrian nationality lost their protection status; in 2024 the figure was even lower at 3.1 percent.
Changed situation in the country of origin
A revocation occurs if the requirements for protection subsequently no longer apply. This is particularly the case when the situation in the country of origin changes fundamentally.
Withdrawal is rarer: it takes effect if it subsequently turns out that someone gave false information about their origin or reasons for fleeing during the asylum procedure.
After the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returned to their homeland - especially from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
The security situation in Syria is still tense in some areas, and there have been individual, massive clashes. Many people are dependent on humanitarian aid. There is a lack of housing in regions that were fought over during the civil war.
Checks have been expanded since June
Initially, the BAMF only initiated revocation checks in cases involving criminals and so-called dangerous people and in cases in which the authorities became aware of a trip home to Syria. As the Federal Government stated in its response, in mid-June the Federal Office began "gradually expanding the de-recognition activity to those groups of people to whom decision-making activity in the asylum procedure has already been expanded due to the improvement in the humanitarian situation in Syria."
According to the information, these are the following groups: Firstly, people whose asylum procedures have lasted longer than 21 months or procedures in which the BAMF is obliged to decide due to the success of an action for failure to act by an administrative court.
Secondly, it concerns refugees who are not particularly in need of protection and for whom it is assumed that they can secure their livelihood independently in Syria, or for whom a family network or a social environment guarantees adequate care.
Due to the changeable situation after the change of power, the BAMF temporarily suspended all decisions on asylum applications from people from Syria. Only cases that involved a return to another EU country were processed.
Hardly any deportations so far
Even if a Syrian's protection status is revoked and he is unable to secure another residence permit - for example through employment - deportation is still unlikely in the short term. Returns to Syria, which in individual cases require cooperation from the Syrian transitional government and its authorities, have so far hardly been carried out.
The federal government and the states have a great interest in this, especially with regard to criminals. Last year, for the first time since the start of the civil war, a Syrian was deported to his country of origin. There were three deportations to Syria in the first six months of this year.
Many Syrians in poorly filled jobs
The number of Syrians seeking protection in Germany has fallen significantly since Assad fled. In addition, according to the federal government, there was recently a rejection rate of 68.6 percent.
Many Syrians work in jobs where there are shortages. According to the Federal Employment Agency, a particularly large number of them are employed in retail, at temporary employment agencies, in the catering industry, in the healthcare sector and in courier services.
