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Significant Increase in the Withdrawal of Protection Status from Syrians in Germany
The number of Syrians whose protection status is being revoked or withdrawn by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is gradually increasing.
According to the German government’s response to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by the Left Party’s parliamentary group, the Federal Office reviewed 8,320 cases during the first half of the current year. In 23.2% of those cases, protection status was revoked or withdrawn.
Most of these cases involved the withdrawal of refugee status or what is known as subsidiary protection. By comparison, only 3.7% of Syrian refugees lost their protection status following similar reviews in 2025, compared with 3.1% in 2024.
Protection status is revoked when the conditions under which it was granted subsequently cease to exist, particularly in the event of a fundamental change in the situation in the country of origin. Protection is withdrawn less frequently when it becomes clear that the person provided false information about their identity or the reasons for fleeing during the asylum procedure.
Following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in late 2024, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returned to their country, particularly from Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Despite this, the security situation remains tense in several parts of Syria, where sectarian violence has occurred intermittently. Many residents also continue to require humanitarian assistance, while areas that witnessed fighting during the years of war are suffering from a severe housing shortage.
Initially, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees limited its protection-status reviews to people convicted of crimes, those classified as posing a security threat, and cases in which it was established that the protection holder had returned to Syria.
The German government explained that, “in light of the improvement in the humanitarian situation in Syria, the Federal Office began gradually expanding the scope of its protection-status reviews in mid-June, to include categories of people whose asylum applications had previously been subject to expanded decision-making procedures.”
These categories include people whose asylum procedures have been pending for more than 21 months, cases in which an administrative court ordered the Federal Office to make a decision after accepting a lawsuit filed due to the failure to rule on an application, as well as people who no longer require special protection and are presumed to be capable of supporting themselves independently in Syria, or whose families or social networks are expected to provide them with adequate care and support.
