Data from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF – Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge) registered a total of 1,514 people seeking Church asylum during 2023. The number of cases rose from 1,243 in 2022 and only 822 cases in 2021.

The data was made available, reported the Protestant Press Agency EPD, following a request for information from one of the Left Party (Die Linke) representatives in parliament, Clara Bünger.

However, although the number of applications rose, the number of those subsequently granted asylum by the German state after going through church asylum numbered just nine in 2023.

Dublin regulation

The majority of those applying for church asylum, reported EPD, were doing so in order to avoid being sent back to another EU-country, where according to EU laws their asylum case should have been heard in the first place. This is known as the Dublin regulation.

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In over 1,000 of the cases, the six-month time limit for Germany to send the person back to the applicable other EU country in each case ran out while the person was seeking church asylum, forcing the German state to take on the case.

In some cases, there can be an 18-month time limit on when the person can be sent back, in particular if it is deemed that that person might try and avoid being sent back.

Under the so-called Dublin regulation, an asylum seeker is expected to apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter. If they leave that country before they have had their case examined and try to apply for asylum in a country they deem more favorable, they risk being sent back to the first country of entry.

Requests and reality

According to EPD, last year, Germany requested returns for 75,000 cases to the first EU-country of entry, and was asked to take back around 15,500 asylum seekers from other EU countries after they had left Germany.

However, in reality, they actually managed to send back just over 5,050 people to have their claims assessed in other EU countries, and took over a total of 4,275 cases from other EU countries.

The authorities in Germany have tried to challenge some of the rights to church asylum through the courts, but they have not been able to prevent the practice.

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Some churches that offer asylum even have buildings set aside for those who may ask the church for help.

If someone asks for church asylum, they are not allowed to leave the church grounds, meaning they rely on help from church employees and volunteers.

System 'should change' says Bünger

In church asylum cases, church authorities contact the BAMF office, asking them to look at the case again and consider whether or not they can be offered asylum in Germany. This can take time and lead to time limits being exceeded.

According to Bünger, reports EPD, the rise in the numbers of those seeking church asylum is in response to an increase in planned returns of asylum seekers to other EU-countries under the Dublin regulation.

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Bünger branded the German approach to these cases "shameful," and said that the German state should have taken on more of these cases.

She added that she felt BAMF was only considering the really extreme cases and that this approach "should change."

With EPD